Art by Miriam Levenstein
By Curtis Narimatsu
Kevin Hickman Steadman’s extraordinary “Gerbil Wheels” book backdrops Kevin’s Alaska fishing cruise where he reminisces about life and history.
“Gerbil Wheels” published in October 2009 by Kevin Hickman Steadman (born December 7, 1953) denotes running for fun and pleasure, as with a runner’s high, and Kevin’s extraordinary run into life’s unseen horizons reveals secrets about ourselves which only audacious exploration brings. Kevin picked his book title “Gerbil Wheels” from waitress Dawn on the Tustumena ship during Kevin’s week long Alaska fishing trip with his dad. This fishing trip is the backdrop for Kevin’s wondrous reminiscences on his family and on history. Dawn repeated what Dawn’s mother said when Dawn was a child, “If you don’t do anything adventurous, the days, weeks, and months mix together to become years, and it’s like a gerbil’s wheel; you can’t tell one year from the next. But by doing exciting things, you can remember different years and parts of your life. It may not be for everyone, but it makes sense to me.” (page 175 of Gerbil Wheels)
The irony of Gerbil Wheels is its contradiction, what Gerbils love is not what we perceive — life almost always is opaque, not crystal clear. As author Kevin Steadman himself intones, “I’ve been a bit evasive in the book. I want the readers to find their own way rather than being led. A few times I’ve been deliberate like when I say that we need to make the time or opportunity to do something otherwise that window may close, or nothing will happen. And when I said this I had to ask myself if I really wanted to declare it–am I violating my own rules? As you asked about the title, Gerbil Wheels, this too, becomes like a toy in the readers minds–they can play with it how they may. I like the title because it is different, unique, universal. I think as one reads the book and then stands back and looks at the bits and pieces they come away with ‘Yeah. Gerbil Wheels. I can deal with that.’ I intentionally left out the passage where it is used on page 175 off the back cover. The readers need to discover it themselves, much like the digging through the Cracker Jacks to get to the prize.”
Kevin and beloved wife Mary Ann’s 19 year old son Quinn died 12 years ago in a car accident, and Kevin recalled vocalist Rod Stewart’s redux of Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” tune, to wit: “And when you finally fly away I’ll be hoping that I served you well….” (pages 164-165) Kevin’s and Mary Ann’s funeral tribute to their oldest son closed with a slide presentation of Quinn’s life, Quinn always smiling, and Kevin evokes, “I like to think Quinn approved of his funeral…. (t)he slide presentation was all that I prayed it would be. It was moving, dynamic, a portrayal of a life, a summation, a gift. It was every feeling I wanted to convey to my son… (t)o me, it was more than just for those in attendance. It was for Quinn.” (page 168)
Just prior to Kevin’s seafaring with his dad, Kevin rolls out Gen. Custer, “Self employed! When a new business is registered and the local municipality mails the license, they should throw in a complementary picture of George Armstrong Custer at the last stand. Health insurance, retirement, paid holidays, or the lack thereof — I was about to take advantage of a perk of my own making. If you don’t create a cadence and keep time with it, what is it I read? ‘Life is life, fun is fun, but when the goldfish dies it gets very quiet.’ With this jaunt to Alaska I was thumping the timpani head.” (pages 5-6)
Kevin extols wife Mary Ann, “Mary Ann is wonderfully frugal. During our first year of marriage, back in college, while she was pregnant with Shanda, she worked at a sewing factory about a mile from the little home we rented, the only time she has worked in our marriage. One morning as she was getting ready to walk to work Mary Ann asked, ‘It is okay if I take the quarter if I bring back fifteen cents?’ Horror stories about the spending habits of some spouses are legend. It gives some thought to the comment, ‘Behind every successful man is a woman that made it necessary.’” (page 10)
Kevin on his parents, “For whatever reason, with all the traveling my folks have done, they never picked up on the idea that you can check in luggage at the curb, thus avoiding lines in the terminal. Dad was particularly surprised. It must be something generational — kids showing their parents how things work. ‘Gol, this is great,’ Dad remarked. ‘I’ve never had anyone take care of me and not have to worry about anything.’” (page 13)
On William Adams Hickman 1816-1883, “In 1871 he (Hickman) dictated a sensational autobiography to anti-Mormon writer James H. Beadle from which the book Brigham’s Destroying Angel was published. In the book Bill details the killing of about fifty Indians and five whites. The publication of his autobiography and his testimony before a grand jury led to the arrest of Brigham Young and other Mormons, whom he accused of masterminding his confessed crimes. In the end, excommunicated from his church with only Bernetta, his first and final wife, along with three of his grown daughters and their husbands and children, William Adams Hickman settled near Lander, Wyoming, to live out his eventful and often tumultuous life in peace. He died on August 21, 1883. His body was buried a day or two later in the Lander City Cemetery, only to be dug up and buried again ‘a half mile up the road from the Allen place’ to satisfy the complaints of the locals.” (pages 21-22) “On the fourth floor of the southwest corner of the Harold B. Lee Library, which is centered like a nucleus in the cell of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, is an office with lettering on the outer glass that reads ‘Charles E. Redd Center of Historical Studies.’ A twenty-three-year-old college junior entered the main level of the library, one floor below, and lunged up the stairs two at a time. Striding through a vacant foyer that led down a hallway to an open office, he encountered an older and scholarly gentleman sitting behind a wooden desk. The scholar had a full head of grey hair, black glasses, and an indistinguishable sport coat and bow tie. Without introduction or pleasantries the student, almost demanding, asked, ‘What do you know about William Adams Hickman?’ Looking up from his papers and without missing a beat, the scholar shot back, ‘He was a cold-blooded, psychopathic killer. Why do you ask?’ ‘He was my great-great-grandfather.’ With a slight awkward hesitation and lowered voice, the historian recanted, ‘I didn’t mean it quite that way.’ For the student (Kevin Steadman), the question had been answered.” (page 18) For Kevin, life is about being open-minded.
Kevin Hickman Steadman and his dearest wife Mary Ann are from outside Provo, Utah, and are not to be confused with another couple by nearly the same name from another State.
On Davy Crockett, “Politics are the real game. Your life, ego, and self-esteem are on four-by-eight foot lawn signs posted around your town. It is standing in front of your friends, family, and critics, being examined, like Legos, to see who you are, how you fit. When the votes are counted and the tally is in, it was nothing more than another numbers game, but you take it personally, very personally. How can you not? Davy Crockett, disenchanted with the voters of Tennessee for not returning him to Congress for a third term, hot-headedly dismissed his constituents: ‘You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas,’ and struck out for Texas to assuage his ego. Yet it was losing his life to Santa Ana’s armies that gave Crockett the fame he couldn’t achieve in his political career.” (page 55)
On Douglas Stringfellow, “In 1952 a thirty year old World War II veteran, Douglas R. Stringfellow, was overwhelmingly elected as a United States Representative to the House of Congress from the First District of Utah. He was a paraplegic, paralyzed from the waist down from injuries sustained by an anti-personnel mine explosion on a military mission in France in 1944. In January of 1954 a surprised and humbled Stringfellow appeared on the nationally televised program, ‘This Is Your Life,’ where he was honored and lauded for his wartime and civic contributions. He was also selected by the National Junior Chamber of Commerce as one of the ten outstanding young men in America in 1953. In June of 1954 he gave the commencement address at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and was asked by Ernest L. Wilkinson, president of BYU, to talk specifically of his wartime exploits. He was assured of renomination by his party to Congress…. The story of Stringfellow’s experiences contained every ingredient for perfect entertainment: Thrills, drama, mystery, suspense, violence, faith, love, and finally, success and happiness. No imaginative scenarist could have topped it, except Doug Stringfellow. Yet it was all a hoax, a lie, a whopper, a real leg extender…. As Representative Stringfellow’s first term in Congress was winding down, his re-election campaign for 1954 was in full swing. Questions of his war record began to surface. Allegations that his covert heroic experiences were false were being whispered, first as gossip, then as accusations declared by the opposing party. War records, particularly sensitive information that would hold the facts, were sealed and could not be accessed. The Defense Department was strangely quiet for fear of offending a Congressman…. Finally, the ‘Army Times,’ an unofficial military journal, published a story alleging that Stringfellow’s military history ‘would not hold water.’ With the immense pressures building and having kept this secret to himself, not even sharing the story with his wife, Shirley, or his father, or even his campaign manager, but knowing the truth, Stringfellow confessed. On Saturday, October 16, 1954, at 5 p.m., local Salt Lake City TV station KSL aired his ten-minute confession, which was picked up by the networks and broadcast sensationally across the nation. With his wife, two little sons, campaign manager, and Senator Watkins off-camera in the studio watching, a tearful and penitent Doug Stringfellow related that when he first began to speak in front of audiences, he was asked for more details about his experiences and soon found himself being introduced as a war hero. ‘Like many other persons suddenly thrust into the limelight, I rather thrived on the adulation and new-found popularity…. I began to embellish my speeches with more picturesque and fanciful incidents. I fell into a trap, which in part had been laid by my own glib tongue. I became a prisoner of my own making. I was never an OSS agent. I never participated in any secret, behind-the-lines mission… I never captured Otto Hahn or any other German physicist… It was all a hoax.’ I don’t know why the life of Douglas R. Stringfellow has such interest to me. Maybe it’s because there is a whopper in all of us, the one that got away…. Once we come in from playing and hose ourselves off, I think we have more in common with each other than we realize. Initially critical of Stringfellow, the more that surfaces about his life, the more I wish that I could have known him. He died in Long Beach, California, in 1966. His marriage to Shirley was strong and happy. This says much about her as well…. A bit more revealing in explaining his imaginative war experience, Stringfellow wrote, ‘There were no past accomplishments for me to think about. I hadn’t graduated from college when Uncle Sam called. I hadn’t been in love except for one or two infatuations long since forgotten. So, when the S mine did explode, my life had ended before it had really begun. Without a past to recall, a future to plan and build for, I fled each night to that world of fantasy where time and space did not exist. I roamed the battlefields of the world, conquering the enemy and restoring peace to a war-torn earth…. Thus, psychologists do not think it so strange that I awoke one morning consciously remembering my dramatic but imaginary part in a war that was all too real.’ In the small cache of documents, speeches and letters I had sniffed out about Doug was a particular letter written to him on Tuesday, October 19, 1954, three days after his public Saturday afternoon TV confession, by Angele de T. Gingras, a newspaper person, I suspect, judging from the prose and format….
‘You see, Mr. Stringfellow, there is something you forget. We all lie. Your lies were just more effective and dramatic and brave, and reached a larger audience than the braggadocio of most. My acquaintance is crowded with people who tell beautiful lies…. I have never met you, Mr. Stringfellow, and I only went through Utah once in an automobile, but I know exactly how that story of your heroism got started. I know it because I know the whole laughing fiction of the tall story of our frontier tradition.’ Doug’s life after his confessions was difficult, obscure, and short. He died in 1966, only twelve years after his confession, living twenty years longer than the doctors forecast. The play of numbers in his life is interesting: Born in 1922, wounded in 1944, died in 1966: Living a half-life of only forty-four years; twenty-two, half again, as a paraplegic from wounds suffered in action serving his country.” (pages 56, 62, 64-67, 69-72)
On motorcycles: “…Charlie more than made up for the penurious wages. Knowing I liked motorcycles and was without wheels, he surprised me one day by saying, ‘you ought to see that motorsickle ol’ Mackay’s got in his shed. It’s a good one.’ I asked him what kind it was, and Charlie didn’t know but prefaced, ‘If it was Mackays, you knew it was a good stick.’ When I first saw Boanerges my mind seized briefly. I didn’t know what to think; it was purely Charlie. It was something Batman would ride. Under a shroud of dust was a deep purple 1956 BMW R50 motorcycle with a customized fairing shaped like a bat with extended wings. Two matching purple fiberglass saddles bags slung low against the back wheel, likely detailed by hippies, dripped of roadster appeal. They were painted white lace and studded with some type of garnet stones that you might find on the breast collar of Silver, Roy Rogers’ horse. Three, four-inch white leather straps spaced evenly in a horizontal row dangled from the sides just to make you look longer. I didn’t know whether to laugh, swear, or run. It wouldn’t be until several years later and many thousands of miles that I would begin to really appreciate Boa for what he was; an incredible creation of post-Reich German workmanship at its finest, all heart, never missing a beat. Late at night I could be stopped at a stop light and have a guy in the car next to me roll down his window, thoughtfully taking in the lines and geodetic engineering, acknowledging a characteristic in Boa I could never know, and silently give me a thumbs up and knowing nod of his head.” (pages 91-93)
On Hiroshima atomic bomb bombadier Tom Ferebee: “‘I was in Wendover, Utah, during the war (WWII).’ (said an older man in 1974) I could sense that he was not interested in what I was selling, but I was curious why he had been in Utah. As we continued the conversation he said he had been doing some training in Wendover with the atomic bomb and would occasionally get to Salt Lake City… I knew Wendover had been an Air Force base and was curious if he had done any flying. (Mormon)Missionaries travel in twos, work in twos, eat in twos, fight in twos, and should never lose sight of the other. I did something I had never done in the previous year-and-a-half — I left my companion, telling him I was going in the store and would be right back… Approaching him (the older man), I said, ‘I don’t mean to follow you around, but I was just wondering if you did any flying during the war.’ He said that he had flown in Europe as a navigator and was with the crew that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I had done a lot of reading before my mission and was very familiar with the incident. ‘You flew with Colonel Paul Tippets on the Enola Gay?’ ‘Tibbets,’ he corrected me. This man was very calm, almost serene. My thoughts were running, yet I had a strong presence of mind. I knew this encounter was chance and that I’d probably never see him again. In high school I had debated the morality of the bomb and had read ‘Hiroshima’ by John Hershey. After my mission I would become familiar with the torpedoing of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, the ship that delivered the bomb Little Boy to Tinian, the island the Enola Gay took off from, and the five days the survivors were in the water before the ship was reported overdue from its port in Guam, and how the sharks, injuries, and elements had pared the crew down from around 900 to 317 before they were rescued. I would shake hands with General Paul Tibbets, Ret., at a trade show twenty-eight years later in Wichita, Kansas, and give him a Hooey Stick imprinted with my company name and show an amused, reticent Tibbets how it worked. ‘What was your position on the airplane?’ I cautiously probed the man… ‘I was the bombadier.’ ‘You pulled the lever, so to speak,’ I said as I motioned with my right arm. ‘Yes.’ My face flushed. I don’t recall any movement or activity in the store, nor sounds — just his eyes on mine. During the fortieth anniversary of the drop in 1985, I would snap off a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, blasting the critics who held lighted candles and chanted slogans in protest of the inhumane, unnecessary, and immoral use of the bomb. Later, I would fly to Tokyo and spend some time with Mr. Itoh, an older business associate, who felt a need to apologize for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. I would intimate that we got our licks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and he would thank me for saving the lives of millions of his countrymen. Quietly, respectfully, I pressed (to the older man in the store), ‘How do you feel about it?’ ‘It was a job that had to be done. I was asked to do it. So I did.’ Feeling a deep reverence for this man and trying to find some closure in one of the most poignant encounters of my life, I offered, ‘I guess you’ve had a lot of things happen since then.’ ‘Yes, some good, some not-so-good.’ I asked him his name, and he said Tom Ferebee. He went on to say that he, Tibbets, and the navigator on the Enola Gay, Captain Theodore Van Kirk, were friends, and the others on the crew had been assigned specifically for the bomb drop. The three of them still stay in touch. He added that he lived in Florida and was just in Atlanta visiting his daughter and granddaughter, who were with him in the store. I shook his hand. Ercanbrack (fellow missionary) didn’t believe me when I told him. Later that rainy afternoon we drove to Emory University in Atlanta, looked up the atomic bomb, and saw a picture of a much younger crew of the Enola Gay. There, grinning back, was Major Thomas Ferebee with black hair and a mustache.” (pages 151-155)
On Kevin’s beloved wife Mary Ann: “When our (7) children were younger I marveled at how Mary Ann could lay one of our sick children in bed, in the bassinet or crib, gently covering him or her with a soft blanket and then lay down herself, quickly slipping into uninterrupted sleep though dogs could be barking and wild percussion instrumentals of thunder crashed wildly all around. Yet with the slightest stir from the bassinet, she would bolt wide awake, attending to the needs of this child while I slept ignorantly on, not fully aware of the night’s activity. In later years the roles reversed, with me being the fretting father of teenagers whose curfew had long since elapsed, mentally rehearsing terse speeches of chastisement and conjuring up merciless forms of penance and groundings to be levied the second they tried to slip through the front door, all while Mary Ann slept on.” (page 163)
On oldest son Quinn’s death at age 19 in 1998 from a car accident: “The night of Quinn’s death, and the nights that followed, Mary Ann was again able to find sleep while my mind thrashed like a broken cement mixer, trying to grasp the reality of not having him anymore. With the funeral looming just a few days away, how do you say good-bye to your child, the little boy you watched grow up? How can you go on? How do you pay tribute to that which has given you purpose? We have always taken slide pictures of family activities. One of our family traditions at Christmas is to have the film developed that has been taken during the year and after our annual Christmas Eve shrimp dinner and the unwrapping of our traditional new pajamas, to show the slides on the wall of our living room while snacking on rich eggnog and goodies brought by the neighbors. With nineteen years of pictures of Quinn, I thought of preparing a brief presentation of Quinn at his funeral, beginning with Mary Ann’s pregnancy and ending with the last pictures of him smiling, always smiling, in his black high school graduation cap and red gown …outside on the lawn after his commencement activities. In recent years I have noticed my hearing seems to be off a few decibels (Kevin born Dec. 7 1953), especially when Mary Ann is talking to me. Some of this loss may be due to the years of blasting music from the speakers in the car as I have driven through the desert or elsewhere, windows down, bass notes thumping from the car’s infrastructure, communing with me in the late dark or early morning hours as I wearily traveled home from a trip. The music seldom varies… One song in particular from Rod Stewart’s cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Forever Young’ had moved me deeply one afternoon as I tumbled with the words and melody while driving through cactus and sand, thinking about my kids as the odometer rolled up the miles. The tune bubbled to the surface of my mind quietly in the early hours of the morning after Quinn was killed, like the dollops of oil that ooze upward from the bowels of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, where eleven hundred sailors are entombed. Kam, (my only daughter) Shanda’s husband, also seemed to be having difficulty sleeping the nights following the accident, and together at the kitchen table we sifted through the archives of hundreds of slides of Quinn, selecting about seventy-five that in some way portrayed his life. Some pictures jumped out, like the one of Mary Ann pinning his Arrow of Light badge on his blue Cub Scout shirt as he proudly stood at attention. Another picture: posing in front of the Piper Cherokee 140 on his sixteenth birthday, smiling in the bright sunlight reflecting off the December snow, tight black curls dangling, green parka unzipped to just above his waist for that surprise birthday flight when I got him out of school. Timed with that image was Dylan’s lyric, ‘And when you finally fly away I’ll be hoping that I served you well….’ Other pictures we tussled with: reliving the occasion, what he said, what he was wearing, what had taken place. I didn’t realize at the time, but in compiling this presentation, I was taking the first steps of a long, endless, solitary journey seeking peace, some form of closure, some way of saying good-bye to this oldest son…. I had never attended a Mormon funeral where a slide presentation was shown. No one had to tell me this was off the beaten path, grieving father or not. The slide presentation in the kitchen had come together well, and I felt a sense of peace. This was my last gift to Quinn, a final farewell. The pictures were Quinn and his life. The music was written from a father to his son. It fit. It was good…. Gently, to a grieving father, the bishop said, ‘The chapel is generally not for slide presentations, particularly at a funeral…’ Feeling the Wild Bill in me begin to yawn and stretch, I replied, ‘It would mean a great deal to our family if we could do this, Bishop.’ The next day our bishop kindly called back… if we were certain it would be in good taste, and the music would be appropriate to play in a chapel, we could go ahead. I like to think Quinn approved of his funeral. We kept it all in the family, except for a prayer that was offered by his former scoutmaster and closing remarks customarily spoken by the bishop. The slide presentation was all that I prayed it would be. It was moving, dynamic, a portrayal of a life, a summation, a gift. It was every feeling I wanted to convey to my son. That it may have been inappropriate, I’ll leave to those who know better than I. To me, it was more than just for those in attendance. It was for Quinn.” (pages 163-168)
On WWII’s Sullivan brothers: “During the Civil War, a letter written by President Abraham Lincoln to the widowed mother of five sons believed to have been killed, Mrs. Lydia Bixby, gained the sympathy of a nation: ‘Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864 — Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of a Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln.’ Ironically, the War Department had incorrectly informed President Lincoln. Only two of her sons, Charles and Oliver, had died in battle, and Mrs. Bixby was later believed to be a sympathizer with the South. Yet the grief a mother feels knows no uniform, no boundaries, no allegiance. Unfortunately, no mistake was made on the morning of January 11, 1943, when a dark sedan from the War Department stopped in front of the home of Tom and Alleta Sullivan in Waterloo, Iowa, and three men in navy uniforms solemnly got out. Tom, who was preparing to go to work at the railroad yard, invited the men in and knew the message they came to deliver could not be good. ‘Which one?’ he asked. ‘I’m sorry. All five,’ replied Lieutenant Commander Truman Jones. Just a year earlier on January 3, 1942, less than one month after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the five Sullivan brothers — George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert, with only a seven-year difference from George to Al — proudly strode into the local Navy recruiting station to offer their services to the United States of America. Their decision to serve may have been to avenge the death of a friend who had died on the USS Arizona. At that stage of the war the Navy was eager for recruits and gladly accepted the Sullivans, agreeing with the stipulation made by the brothers: ‘We stick together.’ On Valentine’s Day a month later, the USS Juneau, a light cruiser, was commissioned and the ‘fighting brothers’ were part of the ship’s 698-man complement. On Friday the 13th of November, 1942, the ship was torpedoed and damaged off the shores of Guadalcanal by a Japanese submarine. Limping back for repairs the Juneau was hit again in the ammunition magazines by another submarine. It exploded and sank quickly. While most hands were immediately lost, some one hundred survivors, including George Sullivan, floated in the burning waters, suffering from the elements as well as from thirst, hunger, and shark attacks while calling out for Frank, Joe, Matt, and Al. By the time a belated search was organized, eight days had passed and only ten crew members survived, none of whom were the Sullivan boys. Security measures prohibited the Navy from announcing ships lost in battle to keep valuable information from falling into the hands of the enemy. As the letters from the boys stopped coming, Alleta Sullivan became worried. Rumors in town began to circulate that the Juneau had gone down. With no official word, a very worried Alleta Sullivan wrote two months later in January 1943: ‘Bureau of Naval Personnel — Dear Sirs, I am writing you in regards to a rumor going around that my five sons were killed in action in November. A mother from here came and told me she got a letter from her son and he heard my five sons were killed. It is all over town now, and I am so worried. My five sons joined the Navy together a year ago, Jan. 3, 1942. They are on the Cruiser, U.S.S. JUNEAU. The last I heard from them was Nov. 8th. That is, it was dated Nov. 8th, U.S. Navy. Their names are George T., Francis Henry, Joseph E., Madison A., and Albert L. If it is so, please let me know the truth. I am to christen the U.S.S. TAWASA, Feb. 12th, at Portland, Oregon. If anything has happened to my five sons, I will still christen the ship as it was their wish that I do so. I hated to bother you, but it has worried me so that I wanted to know if it was true. So please tell me. It was hard to give five sons all at once to the Navy, but I am proud of my boys that they can serve and help protect their country… I am so happy the Navy has bestowed the honor on me to christen the U.S.S. TAWASA. My husband and daughter are going to Portland with me. I remain, Sincerely, /s/Mrs. Alleta Sullivan 98 Adams Street Waterloo, Iowa’ Never having given death much thought before Quinn (my oldest son) died, I sort of thought that civilizations must have gotten used to losing citizens and family members during great tragedies. Like Mrs. Bixby’s sons in the Civil War, the lists of casualties were published in the newspapers after the great battles. In the battle of Gettysburg, which lasted just four days, almost eight thousand Confederate and Union soldiers were killed. Surely, the mourning and loss of family members were tempered according to the times and reasons for death. And what about the 1918 influenza, which possibly took up to fifty million souls worldwide, with 675,000 dying in the United States?” (pages 186-191)
On the fleeting nature of life: “A quick glance at (elderly) Elsie’s great-grandparents’ family group sheet (husband Alma & wife Charlotte were married in 1852 & marked 59 years of marriage at their deaths) startled me. I noticed that eight of the sixteen children appeared to have died before the age of eight…Of these eight children, it was just Lullu who may have been stillborn; perhaps she breathed. Five of the eight learned to walk and talk. Martha, who was six, was probably a big help to her mother around the house, especially helping with the toddlers. Looking at the other eight children listed in the family I thought I must be reading this wrong. Two more children died as teenagers: child #8, Willard, died at nineteen, the same age as Quinn (my son) when he was killed. Francis Marian, child #12, a boy, died at fifteen. Turning to Elsie, in almost a daze, I asked, ‘Elsie, is this right? Did only six of the sixteen live to be adults?’ ‘That’s right. Only Grandma and the boys Armond, George, Helaman, and Bill, and then Luella May.’ ‘How did they die?’ ‘There were accidents, sickness, and drownings. It was really hard.’ Unlike Job (Biblical), the roof didn’t fall in and kill their ten children at once. From 1855 to 1880, Alma and Charlotte buried babies, toddlers, and teenagers. Having lost (oldest child) Alma in the cold of December 6, 1855, in Salt Lake City, was it any easier to bury Lullu, who died on July 20, 1880, in Leeds, Utah, twenty-five years later? Did their mourning get easier? Is there a way grieving becomes less painful as more children are buried? Did the children become only names on a family group sheet and faded etched entities on modest horizontal headstones in the old section of the cemeteries, not warranting a large, slick granite monument of a life fully lived? Alma and Charlotte continued on for another thirty years after the death of Lullu, marking fifty-nine years of marriage, yet carrying the memories of the children they outlived.” (pages 193-195)
I, Curt, will never forget utterly beloved/sagacious Mormon missionaries Elder John Andrew born 1942 and his wife Sister Andrew born 1943, who, at their 16-month old daughter Jodi’s funeral, were “consoled” by attendees, “You have 7 other children, do not despair.” Yikes!!
I will never forget “devout” Honoka’a Catholic J. Roy Souza born 1945, who, when remarking on the (killed in action — war) deaths of 2 of his combat brothers-in-arm, spouted, “It was their time to go.” Yikes!!
Never ever diminish death as “it was their time to go.” Never!! God’s Will/Ecclesiastes intone-evoke tribute/praise such as, “He was a good soldier (highest respect in combat parlance),” or “He is our hero, and always will be — I will never forget the example he set — he gave up his life to preserve our freedoms!” But, as is the case with those who talk profusely but don’t think through what they say, these noiseboxes/talking heads will drop a one-liner such as “It was his time (to die)” or “You have many other children, do not despair” in their ignorance/insensitivity/callous lack of empathy-support-caring nature. Sigh…
Kevin’s tribute to his deceased son Quinn: “In the seclusion of my one-person office I work on a spacious heavy wooden desk, but I am confined to a seventeen by twenty-two inch white pad by baubles, gifts, talismans, and reminders of the bigger part of a life lived. The walls market posters, pictures, and quotes, with no thought to organization or decor. “Your taste has always been in your mouth, Kevin” (emphasis added)…. in a nook, perches an old black Panasonic tape-DVD-radio player turned to 100.3 FM, which I click on oldies, elevator music, with a remote. Like the small perpetual water maze endlessly trickling between two plants in a window and a scented candle burning in front of me, the almost inaudible tunes play all day, providing life, movement, and company when I am in my office. I do not hear the music; I cannot tell you what has played. Yet like the exhausted mother with the sick infant, sleeping heavily until the child makes the slightest stir, I hear the first strains of Rod Stewart’s version of “Forever Young,” when it is broadcasted. The first time I heard the song after Quinn’s funeral (my 19-year-old son), I automatically stood at my desk. In the decade since his death I continue to stand when the tune is played. There have been frenetic moments in my office at 3 a.m. running late to the airport for an early flight, trying to leave things in order, and I hear the song on the radio. To stop and let everything go and stand and listen and look at his picture has never been an inconvenience or sacrifice — rather a privilege. Every Monday morning on my way to work when in town, instead of going left at the stop sign, I turn right for several blocks and visit with Quinn. At the time of his death, our city had just opened a new section of the cemetery south of the existing cemetery, and we could choose almost any burial plot. There were fewer than ten headstones; now there are hundreds. Some mornings I’ll leave the Altima idling when I walk to his grave; most mornings I turn off the ignition and stay longer. When the honey locust trees bordering the cemetery were young, I could stand at his headstone and look up southeast at the face of Mr. Loafer and trace the route we hiked when he was fourteen, to the bowl just below the summit where we hunted deer. Now, I have to shift my stance. I don’t think my weekly visits to his grave through the years bestow any special feelings or esteem I have for Quinn that Mary Ann or others do not feel; perhaps it is a weakness in me. Yet it is an easy thing to take the time and feel some closeness with this son. I have ridden Sheeza (my horse)along the Highline Canal Road as it winds its way with the canal overlooking the farm lands and orchards and pulled her up short in the thick oak brush above the cemetery. In the stillness of a bitterly cold December afternoon I sit quietly in the saddle and look down a steep, rugged hillside softened with deep snow, across a white vacant pasture and watch our neighbor, Karl, walk from his truck over a well-packed path of snow and stand before his wife Bonnie’s grave. Impatiently, Sheeza stomps her front feet and the reins tug in my gloved left hand but we are undetected as steam mystically envelops us. Karl’s coat is open, and I wonder if he is cold. His lips move. What is it that we say, Karl? (emphasis added) Seventy-five yards to the west, and just a little north, is Quinn’s grave. I can see the red kerosene lantern hanging on the shepherd’s crook next to the grey granite headstone. The front of the marker reads “Quinn” in large scripted lettering while above, in smaller script: “forever young….” (end of book) (pages 231-234)
Thornton Wilder said that the highest tribute to the deceased is not grief but gratitude. Oh so true… love eternally, just as Eileen Elias Freeman intoned that angels caress the grieving, whispering softly that the beloved departed one is safe in the hands of God. – Curt
(Curtis Narimatsu is a lifelong resident of Hilo who writes about the forgotten past such as the old plantation days & untold heroes.)
January 31st, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Thank you very much, gracious & great editor Tiffany C. Edwards Hunt, for the Gerbil Wheels wisdom above. As with exemplars Abraham Lincoln/Charles Goodyear/Alexander Pope, life presents twists and obstacles which defy imagination. Kevin Hickman Steadman born December 7, 1953, author of “Gerbil Wheels,” intones measured deliberation on life’s anomalies. Extraordinary book. A must-read. Love eternally, –Curt
January 31st, 2010 at 5:52 pm
What is true love? True love is one’s fulfilling mission to make your loved one happy. How do you find true love? You don’t. True love finds you. How do you deal with loss of true love? Find a sympathetic ear/person for you to express your loss/pain, find positive meaning/healing out of this loss/pain, and be a positive influence to others. Steven Kalas’ columns evoke the heartstopper marvel of love and loss. Love eternally, –Curt
Jun. 28, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
HUMAN MATTERS: Thoughtful encounter leads to musings about love
STEVEN KALAS
Human Matters
I hear her shout the man’s name, and I look up from my convenience store gasoline pump to see a young woman running down the sidewalk toward the bus stop, clutching a paper bag. The man looks up and grins a million dollar smile, shaking his head the way you do when you realize a foolish oversight.
He motions to the driver to wait. The woman closes the distance and hands him the bag. They embrace. Kiss. He whops her on the butt as she turns, and he steps onto the bus. The door closes. She waves, and retraces her steps in the direction whence she came.
Methinks somebody forgot his lunch. But he won’t be condemned to eating fat, salt and preservatives from a vending machine today, because this woman caught the mistake and ran to him.
I tell myself this young couple doesn’t have a working car between them. Indeed, the woman is walking back toward a neighborhood of economically depressed apartments. I imagine they are only rich in love.
It’s an amazing thing when somebody loves you. That is, if you will allow yourself to be amazed. I mean, on the one hand, it’s such an ordinary part of the human experience. And the ordinariness of it sometimes keeps us from noticing it. Being astonished by it.
It seems to me that if someone is in love with you, that fact should regularly wallop you. Give you pause. Nail your feet to the floor. Fill you with wonder and gratitude. Which in turn will make it less likely that you will ever take that love for granted. Ever become blasé. Ever become entitled.
People who live consciously are quite clear that quality love relationships don’t fall daily out of trees. Love isn’t earned or deserved. And while this or that attribute might have initially attracted your lover — hair, eyes, gait, carriage, physique, political views, humor, etc. — in the end the gift of love is so much more than a mere reaction to attributes.
I’m saying that if your lover can provide perfunctory answers x, y and z to the question “Why do you love me?” then I would wonder about said love. Because love is a happening. Not an equation. The correct answer is a provocative smile, shrug of the shoulders and “I just do.”
I’m reminded of the fictional college professor Dr. Harry Wolper, played by Peter O’Toole in the 1985 movie “Creator.” His student assistant, Boris, is sweet on a girl. Boris asks the eccentric Dr. Wolper how he would know if he were in love. I paraphrase the professor’s response: “Well, you can always apply the Wolper Love Formula, whereby you calculate the number of times each day you think about her. Then you compare that number to the number of times each day you think about yourself. If the first number is greater than the second, there’s an excellent chance that you’re in love.”
Which, in turn, reminds me of my all-time favorite definition of love. Favorite because of its purity. Simplicity. It was penned by Richard Bach in the book “Illusions”: “Love is a wish for someone’s happiness.”
Yet, I feel the need to tinker with Bach’s definition. I would say it’s more than a wish. It’s a wish, yes, but also the evident and consistent willingness to participate toward the end of your beloved’s happiness. You’re willing to work for it. You’re intentional. You make someone else’s deepest happiness the source of your deepest happiness. Yes, sometimes bringing happiness to your mate is a spontaneous, easy joy. Other times you make sacrifices.
You run like the wind, for example — hair askew, without makeup or decorum — to your neighborhood bus stop, clutching a lunch bag and shouting your beloved’s name.
Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas and the author of “Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing” (Stephens Press). His columns appear on Sundays. Contact him at skalas@reviewjournal.com.
Nov. 08, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
HUMAN MATTERS: Life’s journey includes pain of suffering
STEVEN KALAS
Human Matters
Suffering is a profound mystery. If you ever meet anyone who can explain it to you, all neat and tidy, run away. Especially if they are trying to sell you CDs and a workbook in an infomercial.
Authentic spirituality doesn’t explain suffering. It courageously acknowledges it. “Life is suffering,” said the Buddha (The Four Noble Truths). “Pick up your cross and follow me,” said Jesus. “If I make my bed in hell, thou art there,” said the Hebrew psalmist. And once acknowledged, serious religious practice proceeds to encounter suffering in a way that leads to hope and meaning.
The Romans gave us two words for suffering: patior, which means “to endure, to allow,” and suffero, or “to bear up.” The Greeks gave us pascho, or “to experience.” It intrigues me that none of these three words bespeak of pain, per se. All three words have in common an intention and willingness to be radically open and present to life as life is — joyous or sorrowful, delightful or painful.
Yet, most of us commonly associate the word “suffering” with something unpleasant, painful or even agonizing.
The central thing we suffer is not physical or emotional pain, but loss. In the midst of illness, tragedy, death — in the midst of life! — meaning is threatened, along with our sense of hope, safety and security. Our belief in a well-ordered and benevolent universe is challenged by deadly weather, accidents, evil and DNA molecules run amok. Saints and scoundrels alike experience absurd, chaotic, inexplicable suffering.
We don’t get to choose whether we suffer, or always what we must suffer. But, thankfully, we do have some freedom to choose how we suffer, and to what end.
Ego suffering refers to the pain and problems resulting from the ego’s refusal to acknowledge pain and problems. We cannot encounter suffering creatively, precisely because the ego will not encounter suffering at all. Oh, the ego will bemoan it. Wail and dramatize. But not encounter.
Indeed, most of what we call suffering comes into our lives as a consequence of our refusal to suffer. We suffer estrangement and isolation because we refuse to suffer the joys and the pains of intimacy. We suffer addictions to avoid suffering the pain within our souls. We suffer depression because we cannot suffer our anger or grief. We suffer guilt because we will not suffer the humility of asking for and accepting forgiveness.
We suffer because we refuse to suffer.
Transformative suffering refers to a conscious encounter with pain powered by the hope of emerging meaning and human transformation. It must be emphasized that the difference between ego suffering and transformative suffering is not found in the suffering itself, but in our relationship to the suffering. In how we suffer. In and of itself, pain is neither a moral good nor moral evil. That we are in pain does not necessarily indicate anything about us. At all. What we do with and in our pain: This may point to character.
Do you have some suffering to do? Here are a few things to remember:
Let the mystery of suffering be the mystery.
Our temptation is to reduce the suffering to something less chaotic and more intellectually manageable. “There must be a reason,” we protest. And so we construct reasons. Often the reasons make us even more miserable.
Share the suffering.
The opportunity to tell the story of our suffering to a compassionate and skillful listener is helpful beyond measure. Simply in the telling and retelling, we begin to shift perspective, to put a healing distance between us and the pain.
Turn to the wisdom of symbol and ritual.
Medals of honor, funerals, statues and monuments, ritual mourning, legacy, keepsakes — we are symbolic creatures, and our symbols help us to embrace and transcend our suffering.
Discover redemptive mission.
Many people discover meaning in suffering as they work to redeem their suffering in service to the world. And so the alcoholic becomes an AA sponsor. The mother whose child is killed by a drunken driver becomes an activist with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The mercenary becomes a naturalist. The victim of child abuse becomes a marriage and family counselor. And so it goes.
Turn suffering to witness.
Sometimes we suffer as a testimony against injustice. We decide to suffer as a way of absorbing the cost of hatred and bearing witness against the insanity of revenge. Or sometimes we willingly suffer for the sake of endurance alone. That is, as a witness to the goodness of life.
Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas. His columns appear on Sundays. Contact him at skalas@reviewjournal.com.
January 31st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Balance — Ty Cobb 1886-1961/Charlie Chaplin 1889-1977
Baseballer Ty “Rex as in monster” Cobb vowed never to live down Ty’s
father’s death at the hands of Ty’s mother [father suspected mother of
adultery; secretly spied on her; she thought he was a burgler-shot him
dead; she was acquitted of murder] when Ty was 19 yrs. old, which is
why Ty was regarded as demented in Ty’s do-and-die baseball attitude
[Ty considered the greatest player of all time]. Whatever Ty
accomplished, he did it in memory of his dad. When Ted Williams hinted
to Ty that Rogers Hornsby was a greater hitter than Ty [Ty's .367 career
batting average is the best-ever], Ty never again spoke to Williams.
Williams’ egomania exceeded Ty’s — Williams refused to be honored in the
same ballpark w/Joe DiMaggio [unimaginable competitive fire]. My cousin
played in the Little League World Series when Cobb died. All I recall of
old old Cobb are photos of a wrinkled/shriveled-up man wrapped in
a blanket ready to die in a wheelchair. “Generational” differences –
paradox is that such recurring images are immortalized — as we all
make the transit from youth to the Reaper.
Charlie Chaplin was our superhuman/greatest comedian/showman. When
his daughter’s boyfriend suggested that Buster Keaton was right up there
w/Chaplin, Chaplin looked down to the floor & slowly gristled, “I was an
artist, and I gave Keaton work!” Driven to the bone. Japanese proverb
–hotoru kasu [let it go]; do ka naru [don't dwell on it]; e guai ni ita ra a
go nei [everything's gonna be all right]. Balance, baby, balance. Love always, –Curt
January 31st, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Keoki Kai born 1965 is our fearless entrepreneur, a Pacific U. graduate, and Keoki’s grandpa George Kai is a Whittier grad & Richard Nixon’s friend, and grandpa’s brothers Ernest & John are Yale grads. George was our beloved Labor Dept. hearings officer, Ernest was our Lt. Governor, & John was a First Hawaiian Bank official. Other brother Herbert was our tax official & owner of Kai Store. Keoki doesn’t have Portuguese ancestry, but Keoki is a St. Joseph School alumnus [but Waiakea High grad 1983]. Aloha, –Curt
February 1st, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Mary Evans 1819-1880 wrote under her pen name of George Eliot, so that her books could be taken seriously, and not be limited to romance. Among her famous quotes is:
“(W)e can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.” From “Mill on the Floss” Bk. 5 Ch. l
Oh, so true!! Magnanimous and utterly comforting
Kevin Hickman Steadman writes about the Dispatch above:
“Hi Curtis,
You are amazing! In the Mormon Church there is a list of tenets entitled The Thirteen Articles of Faith. The thirteenth says something to the effect of ‘…If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.’ You fill that category.
Your completed article on ‘Gerbil Wheels’ is one of the great accolades of my life. That thoughts and feelings bouncing around in my mind for the better part of a lifetime could come together only to be brought forth by you is well beyond my ability to sire this work. Interesting that you came by on that Sunday night after Christmas, I believe only a week after I had given out my first copy. Your interest and enthusiasm to breath life to this illegitimate child has sustained and buoyed me during this past month.
The world is full of wanna-bees and hopefuls. Yet you have taken this potpourri and made it a part of something real. As I mentioned in the book half of the world lives in this realm without a written record of any kind. Your journalistic skills have etched ‘Gerbil Wheels’ in a record that–regardless of how mammoth or infinitesimal–will be a part of this mortality we call earth.
Because you have befriended this written entity, you will always be my friend. Thank you. And thank you again.
Warmest regards,
Kevin
February 1st, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Jack Suwa 1924-2010 was the brain on the budget in the State House, as Maui’s Mamoru Yamasaki was in the State Senate. R.I.P., Jack. Love everlasting, -Curt
Star-Bulletin tribute/obit on Jack Suwa:
JACK SUWA /1924-2010
Plantation life instilled lawmaker with humility
By Leila Fujimori
POSTED: Jan 28, 2010
Jack Suwa rose from humble roots as the son of a Big Island truck farmer to become a highly regarded chairman of the House Finance Committee for several terms in the 1970s.
“He was not the most eloquent or articulate person in the world, but he was very bright,” said former Gov. George Ariyoshi. “He knew what was good for Hawaii and what the people wanted.
“As chairman of the Finance Committee … sometimes you have to take some very tough stands because of the resources available or not available. He knew what had to be done to keep the state in good fiscal condition.”
Suwa died Friday at his Kurtistown home with family surrounding him. He was 85.
Suwa was elected in 1958 to the territorial House, and later to the state House, where he served 20 years. He then served as deputy transportation director from 1978 to 1984.
Suwa’s agricultural background made him a staunch supporter of agriculture, so Ariyoshi appointed him to serve as director of the Department of Agriculture.
Born to a large Paauilo family named Ebata, young Jack was adopted by the Suwas of Kurtistown. They leased cane fields from the sugar plantation and sold cane back to the plantation. The young man planted and harvested cane himself on some plantation fields that he had.
“A little-known fact was he was a terrific mechanic,” said his son, Alan. “He could fix any cane haul truck. He’d fix the big ones. He won awards for troubleshooting in the Army.”
Suwa served as tank commander in the Army, and could have chosen a career in the military, but left as a first lieutenant, Alan Suwa said.
After attending a mainland college for less than a year, Suwa got homesick and returned to work at the Puna Sugar Plantation. He worked hard, and eventually became a supervisor.
“He rode the wave of the nisei leadership role in the community and politics,” Alan Suwa said, as many of his contemporaries went on to do.
Ariyoshi, while serving as a senator in the Legislature, got to know Suwa as a Democratic representative serving the 1st District, Puna.
“I appreciated the kind of person he was more than anything else — rock solid,” he said. “His word was as good as gold. For me, it was a pleasure to have known him as a person, a privilege to call him a friend.”
How did Suwa manage with less than a year of college education?
“He’d work late at night understanding the budget,” Alan Suwa said. “He always did his homework.”
Of his father’s accomplishments, Alan Suwa said getting funding for the first major divided highway through the Panaewa rain forest, for the Chain of Craters Road through the lava fields, allowing tourists to drive a complete circle in Volcanoes National Park, and for transforming a small college into the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Despite his accomplishments, Suwa maintained humility.
“He once took up a broom to help sweep up at Hono-lulu International Airport late one night, according to custodian reports,” his son said. “That’s him. If he sees something not right, he could take care of it and get it done. That was his trademark — being humble.”
“If you talk to reporters, he never articulated his position well,” Alan Suwa said. “He was never a public person, but he was generous and fair to those who knew him.”
Star-Bulletin reporter Richard Borreca said: “Jack was famous for mumbling, nearly indecipherable floor speeches, but once you figured them out, you saw that he was way ahead of most of the other reps on the floor.
“Jack was a good guy, one of the original multitasking masters of the state budget, an old-style AJA politician. We could use more like him today.”
Suwa is survived by his wife, Fusae, sons Alan and Wesley, daughters Sharon Toyota and Corinne Kalani, brother Kenneth Ebata, sister Carol Suzuki and eight grandchildren.
A memorial service in Hilo will be held at 5 p.m. Feb. 13 at Dodo Mortuary. Visitation is 3 p.m. A Honolulu service will be held at a later date.
February 1st, 2010 at 8:18 pm
From West Hawaii Today on Stanley Hara 1923-2008
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Stanley Ikuo Hara, 86, of Hilo, died Dec. 1 at home. Born May 23, 1923, in Honolulu, he was first elected in 1954 as a representative to the Hawaii Territorial Legislature and re-elected until retiring as a senator of the state Legislature in 1980. He was also a former produce broker, real estate manager and developer and Realtor for H&I Realty Services Inc. and Hawaiian Island Homes Ltd. Hara was a member of the Hilo Hooganji Mission, Two Ten Golf Club, Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Island Japanese Community Association, Ancient Order of Foresters, Court Mauna Kea No. 8854, Native Sons and Daughters, Waiakea Houselots Kumiai and a former director of the International Billfish Tournament, as well as being a member of numerous other organizations.
February 1st, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Keoki Kai’s uncle CID’s Dickie Carter brought down the house on organized crime over 30 yrs. ago. So intrepid/ferocious was Dickie that till this day Dickie’s name evokes awe & inspiration. –Curt
February 1st, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Leilani Kim’s homocide still remains a mystery decades later. Hollywood-gorgeous Leilani formerly was married to insuranceman Johnny Alconera, who had nothing to do with her homicide. Johnny was clean as a whistle. –Curt
February 1st, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Ikuo Hisaoka was among our craftiest solons. His brother was KIA WWII. –Curt
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:30 am
Oops, Stanley Hara died 2 months ago, December 1, 2009, NOT 2008. Aloha, –Curt
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:50 am
You want beauty?? You got it — right here.
Jan. 31, 2010
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
HUMAN MATTERS: Beauty often comes from the broken places
STEVEN KALAS
Human Matters
“Pop, am I broken?”
I’m doing dishes, and the question catches me off-guard. Out of context. I turn, hands still in the sink, to see my eldest son, Jonathan, standing in the doorway. I offer him an expression of unknowing.
He points at the huge bandage on his right eye. He is convalescing from his fifth eye surgery in three years. He asks again, “Am I broken?”
My boy has Marfan’s syndrome. Named after Antoine Marfan, a French pediatrician, Marfan’s syndrome is an inherited genetic disorder of the connective tissue. A dominant gene encoding a protein. It has deleterious effects on vascular smooth muscle development.
Luck of the draw. A random outcome of throwing the genetic dice. It happens.
People with Marfan’s are tall. Long arms. Long fingers. Long legs. Absurdly ectomorphic. Once I learned about the disease, it was obvious, in retrospect. When Jonathan was born, it was like unfolding a ventriloquist dummy out of a suitcase. All arms and legs, with a boy attached.
I just thought he was skinny and tall.
But, in the early spring of his eighth-grade year, he walked up to me one morning and simply announced that he could see out of only the bottom half of his right eye. This time of morning, I expect “Are we out of Pop-Tarts? … Have you seen my shoes? … Do you have my lunch money?” But not, “I’m blind in one-half of my eye.”
Two doctors later, he was in surgery that night. His retina had spontaneously detached. It missed his optic nerve by a gnat’s whisker. The surgeon treated him like a man. Told him gently, clearly, but firmly, that this surgery might not save his sight. I have no idea where Jonathan found the grace and courage to absorb this news. His first lucid words upon awaking from anesthesia were simply, “Will I be able to see?”
He spent two weeks horizontal, face down, on a massage table.
And still, nobody knew what was really going on. The surgeon said that some people are just born with thin retinas.
In the fall of Jonathan’s senior year, he underwent a routine physical for basketball. There was an irregularity in his EKG. Now a referral to a pediatric cardiologist. One echocardiogram later, and Jonathan’s days in contact sports were over. His aorta was dangerously enlarged. Now everything began to string together. Now it all made sense.
He took it. He stood up to it and with it. He marched on. Grieving, yes, his dreams about basketball, but somehow managing it all.
Tonight is the first real fracture in his noble armor: “Pop, am I broken?”
Now I understand his question. I move, wiping my hands on my pants, my heart breaking as I step toward him. And, you know, sometimes, for reasons I don’t understand, something takes over in the human heart. And just the right words pour out of your mouth.
“Jonathan … everybody’s broken. Everything is broken on this side of the grave. Nothing is completely as it ought to be.”
Indeed. Chaos relentlessly stalks the everyday sensibility of order and meaning and sanity, looking for a place to sneak in. This is the human condition. The nature of creation. Sometimes airplanes crash on your house while you’re barbecuing in the backyard. Sometimes tires blow, and cars, one moment speeding blithely toward a family vacation, are now upside-down in the median with broken and injured people inside. People die. Children are exploited and abused. Sometimes your most heroic efforts to love someone are not enough to make them stay.
And sometimes one stupid protein sitting on the wrong helix makes your retinas fall off and enlarges your aorta.
And then the rest of the words come. They pour out of my mouth as if dictated from a source way wiser than me: “All I can promise you, boy, is that, if you’ll endure, the most beautiful things in life come from exactly those broken places.”
He stares for a moment, incredulous. And then he does something he hasn’t done since he fell off his bike when he was 7. He lays his head on my shoulder and cries. Heaves his grief. I feel like Atlas, holding up the Earth.
Jonathan exchanged his heroism for another, deeper heroism. He leaned into his grief, his brokenness, and surrendered. For you see, that is the only way to make a path for the beautiful things to emerge.
The most beautiful things in life come from our brokenness. I promise you.
Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas and the author of “Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing” (Stephens Press). His columns appear on Sundays. Contact him at skalas@reviewjournal.com.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:57 am
Racism?? Read here.
Jan. 24, 2010
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
HUMAN MATTERS: Content of character next step in dream for humanity
STEVEN KALAS
Human Matters
It’s early in the morning on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And, as is my custom on every MLK Day, I just finished watching the video of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. For me, it’s tied with Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as the greatest speech in American history. It gives me shivers.
It’s not a “black speech” delivered by a “black guy.” For and about black people. Or, as Dr. King said in the vernacular of his day, “the negro.”
Nope. It’s a decidedly American speech. It’s about justice. Freedom. Human dignity. And any inspired oratory about such things is for me. For all of us. In fact, he says it: White destiny is tied to black destiny. White freedom is inextricably bound to black freedom.
And now I’m thinking. Where do we next take Dr. King’s dream?
My tendency is to observe both oppression and the consequences of being oppressed from the vantage point of collective psychology. Oppression is an ego-defense for a frightened, frail collective ego-state. It says everything about the oppressors, and nothing about its unfortunate target audience. That human beings regularly mobilize individual and collective ego-defenses is ordinary. Even normal.
Xenophobia is the name of an ego-defense. And racism is its inevitable progeny. Ego-defenses aren’t evil. Merely human. But some ego-defenses must of necessity conscript the rights and dignity of others. And that is a great evil.
Likewise do oppressed peoples mobilize ego-defense. Oppressed peoples are crushed and shaped over time by the weight of a shame that is not their own. Predictable reactions are despair, violence, isolation, the inertia of “victimhood,” and finally, pride. Yes, the solution to oppression is to mobilize pride.
I get that. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking critically about it. Is urging a black son or daughter to “take pride in being black” ultimately useful as a response to racism?
See, I wonder. Dr. King was not advocating the aggrandizement of the historical accidents of skin color to the status of defining identity. It seems to me a better solution to oppression is to call oppression what it is — an egregious moral wrong — and then to somehow find the psychic wherewithal to claim a whole authentic human life for ourselves despite the presence of the despicable cruelty around us.
As a strategy for righting racial injustice and healing the historical wounds of same, I have grave doubts about “walking-on-eggshells self-consciousness.”
Let me put it this way:
I guess I’m a white guy. If I seem noncommittal, it’s because, were you to describe me as a white guy, or, if upon meeting me your most predominant impression of me was the relative inactivity of my melanocyte cells, I would then count our meeting as loss. I would say we had failed to connect in any meaningful way.
“Hi, my name is Steven, and I’m thinking your ancestors hailed from Africa.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Chris. You’re correct about that Africa thing. And unless I miss my guess, I’ll wager your ancestors came from Europe.” This is not a deeply human communion.
Now, if you see me fleeing a bank holding a large bag of cash and shooting a gun over my shoulder, then, yes, certainly, you should include “white guy” in your description.
See, in my value system, accidents of birth aren’t exactly at the center of my deliberations of character. I don’t consider “being white” a particular accomplishment. And I’m likewise underwhelmed by the simple fact of someone’s “blackness.” I say, with no little impatience and sarcasm, whoopee for us both.
I enjoy diversity. I respect it. But I don’t idolize it.
So, I have a dream. I feel strongly that my dream is the next logical step of Dr. King’s dream. My dream is that we will all be liberated from our ego-defenses. That we will learn to treasure authentic human communion.
Our office manager at Clear View Counseling is black. And she’s my friend. I celebrate that.
And I don’t give a damn that she’s black. And because I don’t, I rather enjoy that she is. It sounds like a contradiction, but it’s not. It’s not a “thing” between us. I didn’t tell the owners to hire her because she’s black, but because of something I experienced when she made eye contact with me at her interview.
In Dr. King’s very words, it wasn’t the color of her skin. It was the content of her character.
Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas and the author of “Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing” (Stephens Press). His columns appear on Sundays. Contact him at skalas@reviewjournal.com.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:09 am
The woman of your dream, whose happiness becomes your greatest source of inspiration, or the wisdom deep in your heart if there is no true love abiding. Love everlasting, till time disappears. –Curt
Nov. 01, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
HUMAN MATTERS: Wisdom connects the head with the heart
STEVEN KALAS
Human Matters
A lucky man meets Sophia. A smart man welcomes and nurtures her friendship. An even smarter man courts Sophia, woos her, desires her, falls in love with her. Takes the plunge and marries her. Lets her move in.
Who is Sophia? Oh my …
Sophia is a woman who can change the way you think of things/ She laughs at what you know because she knows what you don’t see/ Sophia is a lady come to bridle blind ambition/ Sophia is a nightmare and dream.
Sophia (the Greek sophos) is Wisdom. It’s a feminine noun. In theology, it’s a feminine name for God. As in, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7)
Wisdom is not the same as “smarts.” Not the same as knowledge or IQ. Not the same as analysis and logic. It’s not linear, or even necessarily sequential. Logic says if A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C. Great. Right-o. But try living a deeply meaningful and satisfying life relying only on logic. Good luck with that.
Just try falling in love, logically. Or having great sex, logically. Grieving deeply, logically. Forgiving or accepting forgiveness, logically. See how useful logic is to you when the doctor tells you you’re going to die. Which had always been true, of course, but only wisdom can help us embrace a meaningful death.
Wisdom is an intuitive discipline that weaves parts into a whole. Wisdom “sees” those astonishing, pregnant moments in the human experience when A equals B and B equals C, and, therefore, A equals the whole damn alphabet! Just because it does. Just because Sophia knows that it does.
Wisdom is synthesis, not analysis.
Intuition, by definition, is irrational. But only a man trapped — and therefore damned — inside his head could possibly use the word “irrational” as a disdainful, sexist put-down. Because the word “irrational,” when used objectively, merely means “not rational.” And thank God. Because nothing is more tragically irrational — in the pejorative sense — than the idea that rationale alone could ever make us fully human.
I try to turn her head with my facsimiles of manhood/ Bouquets of bright ideas I’m sure will woo my bride-to-be/ And just about the time that I find answers to the questions/ The questions change and she just laughs at me.
Wisdom is the bastion of The Feminine. Which isn’t to say all women are wise, or to say that a man can’t become wise. It’s just to say that, when a man does become wise, it’s because he meets Sophia. He encounters The Woman. From within and from without.
Sometimes a man meets Sophia within himself. His mind is decisively confronted by his soul. C.G. Jung called this anima — the part of a man’s unconscious inviting his head to connect with his heart. Which is good, because a man whose head is unacquainted or estranged from his heart is, on a good day, a one-dimensional man. And, sooner or later, a miserable man. Sometimes he’s dangerous. Even deadly. Lethal to himself and others.
Sometimes a man meets Sophia in a significant religious practice. He meets God as Nemesis. God as Coyote, The Trickster. The God who confounds and bamboozles and turns things upside down. The God who wounds him, breaks his heart, so that he might finally be obliged to listen to his heart.
And sometimes, if he’s lucky, he meets Sophia in a great love with an actual, living, breathing woman.
What am I hearing, these aren’t violins/ I’m no kind of man that I ever have been/ When she means to love me, the change begins.
Here’s something you’ll never see in a Hallmark card: When a man gives a woman his whole heart, it’s one part joy and two parts wholly terror! Because Sophia sees right through the man. She sees what is small, cowardly and emotionally dishonest. She sees the Poser. She hears the whistle of the thundering locomotive that is his prodigious ego waaay before it pulls into the station.
Yet, she loves him. So she doesn’t manipulate, control, shame, or become invasive and intruding. She might get angry, yes, even passionate and loud; but she doesn’t snipe, bitch and criticize. In love for him and respect for herself, she renders her near surgical observations followed by her unrelenting claim: She expects the man to be a man. To show up. To grow up.
You can chase Sophia across a lifetime of opinion/ You might as well pour rainbows in the dark and hope to see/ Because Sophia is a butterfly that lights upon surrender/ She comes when you respect the mystery
A smart man hears the voice of Sophia. And he surrenders. Submits. Suddenly there is less of him. And, just as suddenly, there is more.
Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas and the author of “Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing” (Stephens Press). His columns appear on Sundays. Contact him at skalas@review journal.com.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:15 am
The man of your dream, or the wisdom in your heart, if there is no true love abiding. Timeless love always, –Curt
Dec. 20, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
HUMAN MATTERS: Gravitas increases analytical, contemplative discipline
STEVEN KALAS
Human Matters
A lucky woman meets Gravitas. A smart woman welcomes and nurtures his friendship. An even smarter woman courts him, woos him, desires him, falls in love with him. Takes the plunge and marries him. Lets him move in.
Who is Gravitas? Oh my …
Gravitas (the Latin gravitas) is Gravity. It’s a masculine noun. It’s used to refer to personal qualities of substance and depth. Along with pietas (virtue) and dignitas (honor), the ancient Romans listed dignitas (seriousness, duty) amongst the expected virtues of men.
Gravitas derives from the Latin word for “weightiness.” And weightiness is a quality wielded by the mature masculine. Now, let’s be clear: The weightiness to which I refer has nothing to do with the numbers that pop up on your bathroom scale. An overweight man is not the same as a man who wields gravitas. Conversely, men shorter than 5 feet 9 inches with slight builds can and do wield gravitas.
Gravitas is an archetypal quality, not a physical description.
Yet, as I’ve worked with men in therapy whose goal is to lean more deeply and authentically into what it means to be a man, physical changes happen, too. I’m not kidding. They fidget less. They stand straighter, with legs a little wider, treading both heavier and with greater intention. Their voice deepens. Shoulders wider. Hands held at once casually and in readiness.
Gravitas isn’t “nice.” Gravitas isn’t interested in nice. Kindness, yes. Generosity, service, mercy, passion, gentility — but not nice. Gravitas has “edges.” Truth, respect, justice — for Gravitas, such things are more important than sentiment. They are worth standing for. Sometimes worth fighting for. In some cases, Gravitas is willing to die for them. Even kill for them, if there is no other choice.
Gravitas has a primitive, sometimes coarse simplicity. He walks the earth to penetrate the world. I don’t mean to be making a sophomoric, phallic joke. I’m being literal. It is a man’s job to penetrate the world. His very anatomy is a metaphor for his vocation.
Whereas the archetypal bastion of women is sophos (wisdom), the bastion of the masculine is logos. Analysis, not synthesis. Which isn’t to say all men are logical, or to say that women cannot wield logic. It’s just to say that, when a woman does lean into analysis and logic, it’s because she meets Gravitas. She encounters The Man. From within and from without.
Logos is not merely thinking. It is not the indulgence of daydreaming. It is an analytical and contemplative discipline. It has rules: parsimony, deduction, induction, analogy, etc. Logos is a means by which a man apprehends and articulates the order of things, to the end that the man might live in ordered harmony with himself and the world. It’s very linear, dispassionate and objective.
A lucky woman meets Gravitas. Sometimes from within herself. Her heart is decisively confronted by her soul. Jung called this animus — the part of a woman’s unconscious inviting her heart to connect with her head. Which is good, because a woman whose heart is unacquainted or estranged from her head is, on a good day, a one-dimensional woman. And, sooner or later, a miserable woman. Possessed by moods, anxiety, irritability. Sometimes she becomes emotionally dangerous to others — possessing, controlling, overly critical and shaming.
And sometimes, if she’s lucky, she meets Gravitas in a great love with an actual, living, breathing man. His gravitas grounds and bridles her emotional life. He gives direction and focus to her wisdom and intuition. Sometimes he even restrains her. Tells her a decisive no. No further. Back off. Stop.
Yet, he loves her. He is not cruel, or demeaning, or disregarding of feelings. He loves her enough, however, to be straightforward, sometimes abruptly and uncomfortably straightforward.
And I’ve never met a healthy woman who didn’t respect and admire that. Surprisingly, this gravitas is sexually attractive to healthy women. Oh, sure, through the ’60s and ’70s women insisted men learn to be “more sensitive.” A lot of us guys tried. Then those same women dumped us, because they were wrong.
They desperately missed the gravitas of the masculine.
A smart woman hears the voice of Gravitas. And she surrenders. Submits. Suddenly there is less of her. And, just as suddenly, there is more.
Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas and the author of “Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing” (Stephens Press). His columns appear on Sundays. Contact him at skalas@reviewjournal.com.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Canada’s Jim Waugh born 1945
Jim Waugh, chop suey ethnicity, is a Canadian architect/professor who
lives here during the winter months. He owns the Papa’ikou mill property
& knows about the early planters, incl. Gov. Kuakini’s Lum Jo 150 yrs. ago.
–Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Community outreach & Hawai’i native-born [2nd/3rd] generation
Shinmachi as life’s prism [area between Hilo Iron Works bldg. to the
south & Bayside Chevron to the north] — Issei immigrants were too
overwhelmed with the need just to survive in this country, instead of
engaging in community outreach/leisure orgs. Do you know that “Shinmachi”
was the only Japanese-worded town in the Haw’n Islands? The children
of immigrants born here in Hawai’i were Americanized & had enough creature
comforts/self-confidence to engage in assimilated community outreach/
leisure orgs. –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Religion
I see Portuguese Catholics awash in their Faith who profess purity but are
the most arrogant/self-laudatory/vain people on this planet [yes, Frank De Luz
types]. So-called commoners also are terribly judgmental but don’t see
themselves as the guilty ones — it’s always to judge others. Yikes!!. At the other end, the woo hoo [Providential/angelic]
terrific positive role models are Al Vierra, who died so young, the genesis
of barefoot football in the Haw’n Islands, the exemplar for outreach to
tenement kids & praised to no end by our tremendous humanitarians
Scotman John Young/plainsman Lloyd R. Killam/Bishop Stephen Alencastre
of Madeira & Wainaku — woo hoo John Stanley Pacheco, Vasco Ferreira’s grandson
[Vasco of the civilians who risked their lives to save the trapped sailors in
the U.S.S. Oklahoma 12/7/41, at Pearl Harbor], ever humble/respectful of
everyone, our blithe spirit/loving soul, a nicer fella you’ll never find in this
life. Heroes all. –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Musing
Itsu Muramoto, crude/rough talker, bellows to visiting Japan prep
baseball team, “You nani taberu??!!” [What you going eat?!] at
our famous Cafe 100 drive-inn. Reminds me of the cigar-toting
owner/cook on TV show Alice. Everybody laughed, because
Itsu’s phrasing is colloquial/pidgin — Nippon boys didn’t understand
what Itsu was growling about!! Renowned athlete/sportsman
Dickie Furtado, among our State’s greatest-ever philanthropists,
served the best pies at Dickie’s airport restaurant, thanks to
Jack Sakamoto’s Chinese wife [Chong girl from Laukapu St.], who
made the best pies in town. Jack was among the first to introduce
popcorn to local culture. Yoshimura “hoito boy”/troublemaker store
image
where Burger King south parking lot now is because store
stayed open late, till 12 midnite. Of course, Yoshimura hospital
where Hawaii Hardware site is across Hualalai St. No, old Yoshimura
store 100 yrs. ago was on Furneaux lane trail, where judo founder
here Kichimatsu Tanaka 1875-1954 reportedly thwarted a robbery.
There was no Keawe St. back then, just Kilauea Ave., which is
why judo historians here say that our 1st organized dojo/gym
was in honor of Tanaka’s heroism for Tanaka sensei on Furneaux
lane/back of Yoshimura store, but Tanaka’s still sharp-as-tack son
Maroosh [stone pile in Luso lingua, where Luso winos laughed when
small kid Maroosh swung/missed hitting baseball off Nawahi Lane where
Tanaka lived -- next to today's Masa's Shell/farmers market site] born
1920 says that dad’s 1st dojo was on Kilauea Ave., placing it where
today’s Foresters Bldg./Rossmond Hotel are across the Taishoji church.
Steamy Chow born 1922 lived where Tanaka gained fame. Steamy’s dad
Chow Keong was a bootblack/shoe repairman & among our earliest
Chinese leaders [later leaders were banker Sam Wong/acct. Yet Chew
Chun/bkkpers CC Tong-Tony Chang/store owner Mun Hon Yuen--Laura
Chock's dad]. When Steamy’s wife Lily had her beauty shop above
Hilo Drug ["Busy Corner" Kam/Waianuenue], Masa Kushi’s law office
also was there. Masa a Fasi fanatic who went to Lily’s shop to
tell Lily/Steamy to vote for Fasi vs. Hiram Fong 1959 U.S. Senate
race, to which Steamy tells Masa, “A, you talking to Hiram’s nephew
[me]!” Masa froze dead, then meekly walked out the door. Not
more than 10 minutes later, Masa’s wife Sumi [teacher] asks Lily
if Sumi may put Fasi flyers on Lily’s customer sofa. Lily says “go
right ahead.” Lily a good sport. Steamy scratches his head, like
“daaaah??!!” in reaction to Sumi’s campaigning for Hiram at Lily’s
shop not more than 10 minutes after Steamy told Masa that Hiram
is Steamy’s uncle. Yikes! When Sumi died, Steamy/Lily went to
see Masa to express condolences, to which Masa was so touched
by such classy behavior by the Chows. –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Welfare/socialist society
It’s true, one-quarter of our working population in Hawai`i employed by
government, vs. one-sixth in other States. Then, on the other hand, we
have the best safety nets for health care/unemployment/TDI/work comp,
socialistic in concepts but beneficial overall esp. for our so-called
underclass. Sentence us for being a welfare society, but at least we
service to the underclass so that hopefully no child goes hungry/
grievously deprived of medical-dental care-adequate shelter-clothing.
Yes, family planning essential to avert manipulation of benefits to
reward irresponsible adults/parents. But of course, white collar largesse/
abuse far more pervasive than underclass scheming. Just target our
military contractors [no oversight] & you see exponential waste compared
to welfare cheats. We target underclass because underclass easy pickings/
powerless to defend itself. Not fair overall just to target underclass. –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Dan Inouye’s deceased wife Maggie’s dad Toku Awamura 1898-1984
Hiroshima/Yamaguchi folks from Honshu Japan, not Kyushu Island [Kumamoto/
Fukuoka]. Hiroshima/Yamaguchi the business-minded folks, not Kyushu farmers/
plantation folks. Tokuyoshi from Hiroshima, Issei immigrant who joined his dad
on Maui, then moved to A`ala & bought out Heiwa-do Jewelry Store in Palama
just before the Great Depression hit 1929. He married Mitsu Sugiyama of Kohala
[Sugiyama icons] & had 6 daughters, incl. oldest child Maggie 1924-2006, Dan
Inouye’s UH classmate. Dan/Maggie married in 1949, Dan ever the irascible
rebel son of River St. deacon [Ted Tsukiyama's parents' church]. Toku was
faithful leader of Honolulu JCC, & you see this tall handsome man age from
Japan movie star looks to ole’ grandpa/ojisan over span of 50 yrs. of annual
yellowed photo history of JCC. Toku’s proudest moment was to win U.S.
citizenship after Congress enacted the 1952 INS Walter-McCarran Act that
allowed Issei immigrants to be naturalized as U.S. citizens, many of whom
were on their last legs/unable to walk into a voting booth. Toku was taken
care of by his Issei/Nisei brethren, serving on bd. of directors of CPB/Mutual
Finance. Toku served as the 4th prexy of our prestigious United Japanese
Society of Hi 1961-1962, preceded by annual prexies Moto Tanimura starting
in 1958/James Okahata/Katsu Kawamoto. In composure/equanimity, Toku
far exceeds the measure of crude/visceral son-in-law Dan Inouye. “No
comparison.” Toku more like Dan’s humble/God-fearing parents, who helped
start River St. Congreg.-Methodist Church, which later became solely Harris
[named for Bishop Harris] Methodist Church on Fort/Vineyard Sts. Maggie
oldest child/audacious like Dan, but retained her revered otosan/dad’s
humility/quiet strength. –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Fasi the do-er
Art Rutledge strikes vs. Weinberg’s HRT. Fasi sits them down to break
the deadlock/no bus service. They no can agree on anything. Fasi
goes to D.C. w/wife Joyce Kono [Na'alehu-Hilo's Ryuichi's daughter]
& corp counsel Paul Devens, purchases 60 busses, comes home,
where Rutledge/Weinberg scoff at Fasi. Fasi starts his own city bus
system. Rutledge/Weinberg — A-holes like you neva’ see before,
shell-shocked by Fasi’s do-er mentality/audacity. Thereafter, both
old farts totally worship King Fasi. Weinberg’s epitaph is that Fasi
the only guy Weinberg couldn’t rip off. Joyce Fasi never pandered
to Hilo voters because she had enough self-respect not to cause
family feud inasmuch Hilo Trans’ Gunji Kono’s son Russ [& Elaine
Kono's hubby Hiroaki] was Ariyoshi’s gang member [vs. Fasi 1974/
1978]. Russ got judgeship/patronage. Russ/Hiroaki were Joyce’s
1st cousins [Joyce's dad Ryuichi/Gunji were brothers]. Before
Joyce married Frank, she was boxer Seiji Naya’s girlfriend. Seiji
is Korean, adopted by 442 mother hen Earl Finch. Earl disowned
by native Hattiesburg Miss. [parents had store/farm] for welcoming
British/442 soldiers [Camp Shelby infantry nerve ctr. 2 division-size
capacity -- 36,000 men][small-minded natives chafed, "Why do
you help non-American soldiers?" -- Earl replied, "They're on our
side -- why shouldn't we welcome them?"]. Earl moves to Hawai`i,
starts vending machine business, no leadership by 442 to take care
of Earl — every man for himself [except that Willy Thompson's 2nd
Batt. hdqtr. puts flowers on Finch/Jack Burns graves Memorial Day]. Till this day,
only Sue Isonaga/Toshio Hayama for Willy place potted plant every Memorial Day
on Earl’s grave at Diamond Head cemetery. Kawai-sona/
so sad for Earl — 442 mother hen. A John McCain would never forget
a true friend — heedless of rank, McCain confronted abusive fellow plebe/
cadet when plebe verbally humiliated Pinoy cafeteria worker. A McCain
would never forget an Earl Finch if McCain were 442 boy. Let’s face it,
how many guys/gals in our lifetime STICK THEIR NECKS OUT TO HELP
ANOTHER FRIEND/STRANGER??!! Yes, Finch/McCain always did!! Finch
helped 442 boys elect Jack Burns. It would’ve been way easier for Finch
to support GOP/Quinn. No, Finch took the hard way, the righteous way
[Finch was alternate delegate to Dem National Convention 1956].
Eichi Oki born 1/1/25 442 3rd Batt. among youngest enlistees 1943, is “god”/
oyabun lawyer along w/Matsy Takabuki [Eichi's daughter is fed judge Susan],
didn’t know Finch, but Eichi’s 3 big heroes are “Chappies”/chaplains Yost
[100th]/Hiro Higuchi 2nd Batt./Masao Chicken Yamada 3rd Batt. who married
Eichi’s 2 daughters to their hubbies. Eichi’s 3 big civies/civilian heroes are
John Young/Leigh Hooley/Albert Schweitzer. Eichi’s famous line to Young
[didn't see Young from age 10 until age 30] was “You don’t remember me,
do you?” To which Young’s famous standard/boilerplate reply was, “Of
course I remember you, you’re the kolohe one who gave me a hard time!!”
Young didn’t know Oki from Adam & Eve. Eichi was Young’s “chauffeur”
from then on. Eichi wants to see Thelma Chang write bk. “Amazing Chaplains”
[Yost/Hiro/Masao] before Eichi dies. Lore, lore, lore. Love, –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Tribalism
As KingLit Ching suggests, tribalism is about unit/group cohesion, usually
denoted by Black Africans, typecasted via poverty/outside invasion-colonization.
W/n KingLit’s family, uncles Hung L. 1911-1999 & Hung Wo 1912-1996 were
inseparable, w/Hung L. serving in various capacities at Hung Wo’s behest [gov't
outfits/etc.]. The newly minted 442nd RCT foundation is led by tribal leader
Ted Tsukiyama born 1920, lockstepped by yakko/yes-men Arnold Hiura/Ed Goto,
nameplated by taisho advisor Matsy Takabuki [coincidentally, who doesn't let
Tsukiyama in on Matsy's deepest feelings/thoughts -- not good -- advisor Matsy is
there to lead, not sit crosslegged in a cave & zen-meditate his own glorification
as his self-promoted legacy to Hawai`i]. Ted’s ego is surpassed by Matsy’s
ego. Kapoho poet laureate Frances Kakugawa is another tribal mystic, bestowing
her talent only on those who blindly worship her. In contrast, Hilo’s Juliet Kono
Lee gives the shirt off her back sans tank top to help others w/her incredible writing
talent. She always encourages, never turns away from others, & is a believer in
simple simon [says keep it short/sweet a la greatest British poet Alexander
Pope -- Pope's 2 line couplets -- "to err is human, to forgive is divine"]. Paul
De Silva needs to remind himself of Alex Pope’s couplets. BTW, Scotman
John Young’s proteges` incl. architect Hara [incl. writer Marie Hara, peer
of Juliet Kono Lee]. My cousin Chiyono Kinoshita born 1931, Gerald De Mello’s
big hero [Gerald inducted her in UH HoF on 1st go-round], gives me the mean
look when I ask her, “Cousin, I confused over yama-imo vs. ama-imo, what
did bachang/okasan/otosan eat w/their rice? Yama-imo the slimy potato
which you grate & pour over the hot rice w/shoyu, right? Ama-imo da small
round golf ball size potato you peel & eat w/salt, right?” Chiyono gives me
the look that says “what kind stupid-ass questions are deez?” Before she answers,
I tell Chiyono, “Chiyono, who is YOUR biggest promoter? Me — when your photo
& bioblip [via Gerald De Mello] came out in the Trib newspaper, I bought tons of
copies & mailed them to all our family members here & abroad. You forget where
you come from, or what?? Da reason I ask is that Bachang [grandma] died when
I was only 1 yr. old [1954], & I too young to remember how hard life waz when you
waz growing up. Az why I ask.” Chiyono answered, “Curtis, the reason I
grimaced is that yama-imo is a thing of the past, when peasants like us/your
bachang & dad couldn’t afford anything else. It’s jungle food that even today’s
Filipino immigrants do not sell at the farmers’ market!! You can’t give it away
even if you wanted to!! But your dad loved yama-imo because he always was
into the past, just like your dad loved kogare [burnt] rice because our babang
[bachang/grandma] didn’t know how to cook, not even rice!! So her rice pot
always was burnt to a crisp at the bottom of the pot. Just like your dad always
loved mama’s [Chiyono's mom Masako 1907-1990] — your dad’s older sister’s –
dangojiru [flour dumplings in Ebi-shrimp chip soup]. Our ancestors did what
they had to do to survive, & yama-imo was
an essential stretcher to their spartan diet. But if you want to eat it now, you
gotta go into the Honoli`i jungle [where I was raised] to get it. I not upset,
just long-ago memories of da hard hard times before. Curtis, we had 10
kids, no mo food on da table, yama-imo a necessity, & free!” Chiyono,
my dearest cuz. I hope Chiyono not like da Honolulu japanee “bananas”
who go Central Union Cong. church just to show off to be among haoles.
Dats why I love Bob Hughes 1917-2008. He one haole who no kea what kine folks
he hang out with. Bob was lone haole among Chinamen/Japs/etc. at
Hung Wai Ching’s Community Church on Nu`uanu Ave. Bob Hughes is
my big hero, like Chiyono is Gerald De Mello’s big hero [Chiyono was
provost secretary who was the only continuing link b/n the old/new
changes of faces at UH-Hilo 1957-now]. Her big hero who is not
yet enshrined is 442 Kaoru Noda, won’t get “boo” peep out of him –
so loving yet so quiet. On his last legs. My dad’s gang WWII, UH
professor/provost/etc. Love, –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Thinkers
Because Hopkins U’s Francis Fukuyama has same interest as KingLit
Ching in furniture, KingLit born 1936 comments often on Fukuyama’s
born 1952 sojourn from Reagan neo-conservative think-tank guru
[despite his youthful age] to current Wilsonian pragmatist [emphasis
on diplomacy, not military imperialism]. Neo-con bullshit woke up
Fuku to the reality of life a la neo-cons’ demise in Iraq War 2003-now.
Which brings us to Franklin Odo’s studied sempai/reference point,
Chalmers Johnson born 1931 Japan-Asia expert, whose trademark
is CIA’s blowback — our arrogant imperialism blows back against us
by the oppressed — that Muslim extremists kill our innocent civilians
[& theirs too] because we kill theirs ["as ye sow, so shall ye reap"].
Franklin certainly does not condone Bin Laden’s 9-11 savagery,
but discerns the motive behind the maelstrom, eye for an eye–
tooth for a tooth. For me, it’s healthy/wise/practical to listen to
diverse opinions, from former right-winger Fuku to foreboding
left-winger Chalmers Johnson. Center is the place to be, w/balanced
attention to left/right. Opinions, opinions … Love, –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Judeo-Christian roots of our legal system
French thinker Blaise Pascal intoned such tragic truth over 300
yrs. ago: “Men never do evil so completely & cheerfully as when
they do it from religious conviction.” The Crusades/Spanish
Inquisition come to mind. Ironically, 8 Crusades over 4 centuries
sought to wrest Jerusalem from Muslim control, even though the
Muslims allowed Christians to come & worship at Jerusalem.
The Muslims eventually ended their policy of appeasement &
went on the attack, advancing as far as the Danube,
conquering Constantinople in 1453. The Moors [Moroccan
Muslims] promoted religious tolerance & dialogue among
Jews/Christians/Muslims, but were defeated during the
Spanish Inquisition. Paul De Silva’s bloodline is Moor.
No sooner had the Inquisition rapaciously fleece Jews/
Moors [& finance Columbus' expedition to America],
that Martin Luther protested the Catholic Church’s
selling of indulgences [to reduce time in purgatory],
which started the Reformation. Thomas More’s
Christian humanism a la Erasmus resulted in his
execution for treason vs. Henry VIII in 1535, the
same Henry who disavowed Catholicism for
refusing to allow Henry to divorce his wife.
Nonetheless, via Puritan concept of a covenant
b/n God & His people, distinctive to Judaism &
adapted to Christianity, so-called “federal
theology,” so too our Preamble’s “We the
People” exist via the voluntary creation of
society’s covenant fraternity. As w/Henry
VIII’s Anglican Nation, William Blackstone’s
Common Law [English case law] was rooted
in Christian covenant [biblical to Anglican
to case law]. Our country’s founding fathers
were products of covenant theology &
common law precedent. But because
the Church of England’s theocracy
rationalized economic exploitation of our
American colonies, our founding fathers
insisted on religious tolerance via the
wall of separation of Church/State. –Curt
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Thanks, Curt, for the food for thought re: the welfare society issue. I see your point re: the big business being more manipulative than the poor guy fudging numbers to get an EBT card. Makes me want to re-read Atlas Shrugged and daydream about people who have integrity and a will to do what is right for their own self worth.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Thanks, great editor Tiffany C. Edwards Hunt, for your comment. Frank Fasi was the most productive mayor in Honolulu history. Here is a lookback:
Posted on: Sunday, August 16, 2009
Frank Fasi
Champion of ‘the little guy,’ some of long-time Honolulu mayor’s projects still going strong
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Frank F. Fasi served as mayor of Honolulu for 22 years — a feisty ex-Marine with ideas some considered whacky but were often ahead of their time.
The City Council in 1992 blocked Fasi’s proposal for a rail-transit system — but a similar plan is now back in force and headed toward reality. Later, Fasi turned to alternatives such as a commuter tunnel under Pearl Harbor and Honolulu Harbor. He also wanted to reinstate free bus passes for senior citizens and students.
Fasi ideas that did come to pass are now a staple of life in Honolulu: Satellite city halls that bring services to communities across O’ahu, the popular city-run Summer Fun programs, the Civic Center’s park-like setting that Fasi helped create by mounting a bulldozer himself and tearing up the council members’ parking lot, an award-winning bus system, community gardens, the popular Honolulu City Lights holiday exhibits and celebrations, the H-Power plant that turns garbage to energy and neighborhood boards.
“I fight for the little guy,” Fasi said in every campaign dating back to his service in the Hawai’i Territorial Senate, (1958-59); Honolulu City Council, (1965-68); and as Honolulu mayor, (1969-80, 1985-94).
But Fasi had as many political enemies as he did friends and could never stretch his appeal and political clout across all islands to reach the governor’s office, despite five attempts. Perhaps it was his blunt, mercurial style. He once called Kailua residents who wanted changes in sewage treatment “ignorant housewives.”
When he tried to recapture his mayoral seat in 2000, Fasi — then 80 — offered himself up as a more conciliatory candidate. And when the issue of his age came up, Fasi dropped and pumped out 50 pushups.
Frank’s lovely and grassroot wife Joyce born 1937 has roots here in Na’alehu, her dad being Gunji Kono’s brother [Gunji moved to Shinmachi-Hilo & became Shinmachi's biggest benefactor-employer, known today by its successor as Hitco moving co.]
February 4th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Sister Luedeen Andrew born 1943, wife of Brother John Andrew born 1942, is descendant of latter day saint martyr Edmund Durfee 1788-1845. Brother John Andrew’s great great grandfather is George Q. Cannon 1827-1901, Mormon Faith’s greatest internationalist/racial inclusionist who also ended polygamy as advisor to a line of Mormon Church presidents.
February 4th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
ILWU’s “independent” demographics
Maui’s 5,000 members outnumber Hawai`i Island’s 3,000/O`ahu’s 3,000.
W/Lorraine Rodero Inouye’s plantation core/halcyon extinguished/bygone,
the ILWU supports Billy Kenoi [young/immigrant Pinoy demographics], w/
big boost from Billy’s youthful buddies, the dockworkers. Lorraine, saddled
by high-nosed Inouye reputation [Lily/Vern], disconnects w/today’s working
class. To his credit, Lorraine’s brother Albert “Benny” Rodero, is stoic
about today’s untraditional ILWU [compared w/King Sugar's era 1946-1984],
emphasis on “independent” [factional bunch]. You gotta feel empathy for
Lorraine/Benny, who came from the ground up thru my native Wainaku.
Accept today’s “independent” demographics, but sad still the same for
ILWU loyalists Rodero familia/family. So heartbreaking, a bygone era. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Scrub Tanaka 1915-2006 grassroot all the way
No book bio by Scrub’s daughter/Rick Castberg. Will it ever
happen? Wait/see. Jack Hall was fortunate to get paid to organize
plantation workers. Scrub organized the Democratic Party for free/
manuahi. Which is why he lived/died austere. Scrub always felt
public service was the gemstone of a free republic/democracy.
He considered it a treasured activity to organize citizenry/voters
to elect solons. Which is why Jack Burns worshipped pure-hearted
Scrub. Yes, Scrub was an uncontrollable egotist/male chauvinist/
acerbic [acid-tongued] abuser, & there is no redemption in his
enormous minusses, but his public service which resulted in a new
social order [egalitarian schooling/health care/housing/employment/
etc.] unmistakably transforms him into our greatest post-Statehood
wayfinder from Hawai`i Island [Kamehameha the Great is our
ancient legacy-maker]. Gang, you’ll see negative images of
Scrub in my emails [ergo, male chauvinist]. But he still is
my angel of “everybody’s equal” [Scrub's Buddhist dharma]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Gullible young students
Curt wrote:
It’s sad that kids eat up the “pacifism” of Jim Albertini/Ron Fujiyoshi, w/out asking
the sensible question, “who ensures the right to pacifism?” Incredulously, same w/
self-determination/Hawaiian Nationalism. Love, –Curt
What this country needs is universal service, like many other modern nations.
It needn’t be just military, but any service to the community. Applies to all,
regardless of gender or physical condition. Two years, immediately after
high school graduation, starting with some form of basic training/boot camp,
where some people will learn discipline, loyalty, teamwork, and responsibility
for the first time in their lives. –Rick
[Mormon mission for young men facilitates emotional
growth/maturity. From Wikipedia, Eric Hoffer notes that the reason working-class Americans did not by and large join in the 1960s protest movements and subcultures was they had entry into meaningful labor as an effective rite of passage out of adolescence, while both the very poor who lived on welfare and the affluent were, in his words “prevented from having a share in the world’s work and of proving their manhood by doing a man’s work and getting a man’s pay” and thus remained in a state of extended adolescence, lacking in necessary self-esteem, and prone to joining mass movements as a form of compensation. Hoffer suggested that this need for meaningful work as a rite of passage into adulthood could be fulfilled with a 2-year civilian national service program (not unlike the earlier programs during the Depression such as the Civilian Conservation Corps), in which all young adults would do two years of work in fields such as construction or natural resources work. He writes: “The routinization of the passage from boyhood to manhood would contribute to the solution of many of our pressing problems. I cannot think of any other undertaking that would dovetail so many of our present difficulties into opportunities for growth.”
February 4th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Edmund Durfee
Born October 3, 1788
Tiverton, Rhode Island
Died November 15, 1845
Hancock County, Illinois, USA
Nationality United States
Known for Murdered by Anti-Mormon mob
Edmund Durfee (Durfy) Sr. (October 3, 1788 – November 15, 1845) was an American settler and early member of the Latter Day Saint movement who is remembered as a martyr by Latter-day Saints.
Death
After losing their home to the arsonists, the Durfees, with other homeless residents, fled to Nauvoo for safety. Edmund and other men returned to Morley’s Settlement to harvest their crops on November 15, 1845. They lodged with Solomon Hancock in his unburned home about one-half mile northeast of Lima, Illinois. Late that evening, nightriders set fire to hay in the Hancock barnyard. Awakened, the Mormon men rushed outside to fight the fire. Edmund Durfee, who was age 57 at the time, was shot in the back and killed. Durfee’s attackers were identified and arrested, but never brought to trial, even though “their guilt was sufficiently apparent,” according to Illinois Governor Thomas Ford. Edmund was buried near his brother, James Durfee, in Nauvoo’s Parley Street Cemetery.
Durfee has since been described as “one of the most inoffensive men in the country.” “Some of the mob engaged in the tragic affair afterwards boasted that they had shot Durfee in order to win a wager of a gallon of whisky, that the stack had been set on fire to cause an alarm and draw the men out, and that by killing him they had won the whisky.”
Following his murder, Edmund’s family participated in the Latter-day Saints’ forced exodus from Nauvoo in 1846. Edmund’s widow, Magdalena, died during the hard journey near present-day Council Bluffs. His daughter, Tamma Durfee Miner, buried both her baby, Melissa, at Montrose, and her husband Albert Miner, in Iowaville, along the Mormon Trail. Eight Durfee children – Martha Durfee Stevens, Tamma Durfee Miner Curtis, Dolly Durfee Garner, Delana Durfee Dudley, Abraham Durfee, Jabez Durfee, Mary Durfee Carter, and Nephi Durfee – went west with the Latter-day Saints and settled in Utah.
February 4th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
The Durfee bio is from Wikipedia, as is the bio on George Q. Cannon here.
George Quayle Cannon (January 11, 1827 – April 12, 1901) was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and served in the First Presidency under four successive presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. He was the church’s chief political strategist, and was dubbed “the Mormon premier” and “the Mormon Richelieu” by the press. He was also five-time Territorial Delegate from Utah.
February 4th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Laupahoehoe horseshoe turn/middle gulch was rr line
Today’s horseshoe turn was the original rr right of way, that tunneled
thru a sharp inverted V peak for a short distance where today’s inverted
V peak bank is on the Hilo side of the where the U makes the turn. Of
course, Maulua gulch horseshoe turn [horseshoe closest to Hilo] had its
rr traverse on a slightly arced/curved bridge over the front of the
gulch. The skinny maroon-colored house on the Hamakua side of
the gulch is the former depot. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Social democracy
Another name for welfare state, w/safety nets [accepted even among
GOP] Medicare/Medicaid-Quest/social security/child care connections/
Head Start/OEO/Foster Parent grants/food stamps/Veterans benefits/
direct cash payments-welfare recipients/TDI/work comp/pre-paid employer
health care benefits/unemployment comp/EPA/FDIC/etc. Social democrats
incl. Clement Attlee/David Ben Gurion/Golda Meir/Willy Brandt/Tom Gill/
Jack Burns/Nelson Doi. Laissez faire individualists incl. Ronald Reagan/
Margaret Thatcher/Joseph P. Kennedy [JFK's dad]/Newt Gingrich/Bill
O’Reilly/Rush Limbaugh/Sam King Sr./Randolph Crossley. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Sugar factoring
Sugar planters here used commercial agents, or “factors,” to buy
their mill equipment/find buyers/borrow money for planters. The
1st agent/factor was Jim Hunnewell 1826, later known as C. Brewer.
Welshman Theo Davies entered in 1840. German National/sea capt.
Hackfeld 1849 was another factor, later impounded WWI/bought out
at fire sale price by AmFac. Alexander & Baldwin, sons of missionaries,
also entered as factors. Sam Castle/Amos Cooke, members of the 8th
boatload of missionaries from New England 1837, entered as the
5th agent/factor 1851 [Castle & Cooke]. Thence, the Big 5
factoring agencies. Davies financed Hon Iron to repair mill machinery
1875. Cabinetmaker Chris Lewers partnered w/Cooke ohana for
construction materials, known as Lewers & Cooke. Ben Dillingham
married missionary girl & became a railroad owner/warehouse
storage for sugar. Capt. Bill Matson started steamship co. right
here at today’s Wailoa River basin to ship sugar to California. Jim
Campbell founded Maui’s Pioneer Mill sugar plantation. Paul Isenberg
of Germany became a Kaua`i sugar planter, as did Norway’s Waldemar
Knudsen. But Alexander & Baldwin was the only sugar factor that
was founded on sugar alone. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Of shot & shell [Hugo Black/Steve Christensen/Koji Ariyoshi]
Hugo Black 1886-1971, U.S. S.Ct. Justice 1937-1971, sealed
his stamp on history just before his death, ruling that Ellsberg’s
Pentagon Papers case deserved a hearing at that very moment,
as to how the President lied to sucker us into Vietnam –
“Paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty
to prevent government from deceiving the people and sending
them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot
and shell.”
Hugo Black’s Alabama hillbilly pastoral hard-scrabble roots kept him
grounded that the public’s right to know/free press are our most
important absolute irreducible core of liberty. Hugo adapted his
shot/shell parable from an old Alabama song titled “I am a good
ole’ rebel.” Steve Christensen 1941-2009, our crusader for free
speech/free press long before current advocate Jeff Portnoy
born 1946 came out of legal infancy, worships Hugo Black as
Christensen’s sensei/alter ego. Mo`o ali`i/blueblood pedigree
of First Amendment primacy. Steve’s legacy among the
teeming masses is as the top criminal defense attorney
[landmark totem pole hearsay/posse comitatus rulings] nearly
half a century ago as a natural prodigy of Hugo Black, but
among history buffs Steve’s imprimatur is as the greatest
defender of free speech/free press, hands down. Likewise,
Koji Ariyoshi 1914-1976 is bestowed upon as the working folks’
messiah, & the symbol of Labor Day every September. Love,–Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Nascent Greek democracy 500 B.C.
Athenian grassroot power seeded democracy as we know it today.
City bosses called Archons were chosen by lot instead of by monarchs.
Magistrates were elected by all freemen. Trial jurors were paid for
their time, which welcomed citizens, not just the rich. Plato’s
“Republic” was the 1st treatise on secular political ideals written
in Europe. Plato’s mentor Socrates, Plato himself, & Plato’s protege
Aristotle analyzed human behavior that were the calling cards of
great thinkers for the next 2,000 yrs. till 1600 A.D. [incl. the
Renaissance]. The greatest religious figure is Jesus, who said that
we all can become sons of God, ascetic grassroot empowerment,
which led to his persecution by the pharisees/priesthood. Jesus’
emergence follows on Scriptural cultural sequence in the Book of
Daniel [Tower of Babel is about Nebuchadnezzar II's man as god
"false worship" [New Babylonian Empire 605-562 B.C.]. Jesus’
ground-level creeds inspired Simon de Montfort’s grassroot
Parliament in 1264 A.D. Simon’s political inclusiveness was a
direct outgrowth of/improvement over Charlemagne’s 768 A.D./
William of Normandy-King of England’s 1066 A.D. feudalism.
When the last Holy Roman Crusader was expunged in 1303 A.D.
[after over 2 centuries of barbarism that started w/Pope Urban
II's edict for his knights to "take the Cross"/rescue the Holy
Land from the Muslims], Christians actually became impressed
by Muslim culture, & incorporated much of what they learned.
Ghana of West Africa became a key source of gold until gold
was discovered in the American continents after Columbus’
expeditions. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Kiyoshi Okubo the moocher [Hilo immigrant museum nka Hawaii Japanese Ctr.]
HPM’s Bobby Fujimoto/KTA’s Taniguchi scions/Suisan’s Matsuno kazoku/
SK Oda crew — all used to sicken via Okubo’s leeching off of their business
goodwill/courtesy [donations/ads/coffee room food/supplies/etc.]. Is Okubo
Robin Hood? Uchinanchu were helped via Okubo’s P.R./positive exposure of
them. And Okubo was decent w/later DJs Shinobu Sato/Tomoe Nagahisa/
Toshiko Segawa. Okubo liked simple country folk/plantation mentality, not
urbanites. Okubo longed for pastoral/folksy tranquility, although Okubo himself
was the epitome of arrogance/condescension [vs. businessmen]. Okubo always
felt that he was better than our local best/brightest, Okubo having graduated
from so-called high plate Tokyo High [even though Okubo was Niigata rice farmer
boy] & MPI English school on O`ahu. Which demonstrates Okubo’s two-headed
nature [childhood's idyllic Niigata ways/current city predatory mentality]. Yes,
Okubo lived his childhood halcyon days/current urban droll-treachery. Jekyll/Hyde.
BTW, current head Masafumi Honda [UH linguistics prof] wanted to name Okubo’s
museum “Japanese Center.” Henry Shimabukuro vociferously objected & its current
name is Hawaii Japanese Ctr. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
From Wikipedia: William Adams Hickman, also known as “Wild Bill” Hickman (April 16, 1815 – August 21, 1883), was a frontiersman. He also served as a representative to the Utah Territorial Legislature.
Hickman was baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1839 by John D. Lee. He later served as a personal bodyguard for Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young. Hickman was reputedly a member of the Danites.
In 1854 Hickman was elected to the Utah Territorial Legislature. He was an important figure in the Utah War. He torched Fort Bridger and numerous supply trains of the Federal Army.
Hickman was excommunicated from the Mormon Church in 1868. Shortly thereafter, 9 of his 10 wives left him.
Around Sept 1871, while under arrest for the murder of Richard Yates years earlier, Hickman wrote an autobiography/confession in which he confessed to numerous murders. Years later, his confession was given to J.H. Beadle, who published it under the sensational title Brigham’s Destroying Angel. It’s unclear how much of the account is factual and how much is exaggerated, but in his confession he implicated Brigham Young as being the one who ordered Yates’ murder, as well as most of the other murders to which Hickman confessed. Federal law enforcement authorities at the time gave Hickman enough credence to hold off charging him with the murders so that he could be a material witness in a case they were attempting to build against Brigham Young. During this time, Hickman was held at Fort Douglas, guarded by the military, rather than in a local jail cell because federal authorities believed Hickman needed witness protection from a perceived threat by the Danites.
Nothing ever became of the case against Brigham Young, and Hickman, who had struck a deal with federal law enforcement to testify against Young if he were ever brought to trial over ordering these and other murders, was never convicted of the crimes to which he confessed, although he lived the remainder of his life as somewhat of a pariah.
LDS online records show he fathered 36 children.[citation needed] Another source lists 39. [1] He was the grandfather of Mormon metaphysical and inspirational author Annalee Skarin. He died in Wyoming in 1883.
February 4th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
From Wikipedia: David Oman McKay (September 8, 1873 – January 18, 1970) was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), serving from 1951 until his death. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was a general authority for nearly sixty-four years, longer than anyone else in LDS Church history.
In 1920, the First Presidency assigned McKay to make a worldwide tour of the missions of the church with Hugh J. Cannon. They dedicated China for the preaching of the gospel, traveled to Hawaii where McKay first had the vision that led to the founding of BYU–Hawaii many years later, and traveled to Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and Palestine. In Palestine they met up with Wilford Booth and visited the Armenian Latter-day Saints. They made it back to Utah on Christmas Eve, 1921.
I dedicate Prayer under a Pepper Tree to Brother John & Sister Luedeen Andrew, born 1942/1943 respectively [Brother John is the great-great-grandson of Mormon pioneer/destiny-maker George Q. Cannon 1827-1901; Sister Luedeen is the descendant of latter day saint martyr Edmund Durfee]. Heartstopper confluence, that Abbie Kailimai 95 yrs. old razor sharp lass [pioneer Hawaiian Mormon Samuel Kailimai's granddaughter, & seer son of Samuel --David Keola Kailimai's niece], & our utterly beloved Andrew missionaries worship here in Honomu, Hawai’i as Mormon Church members. Abbie’s Honomu estate devolves from her father’s purchase of his sister’s kids’ shares [famous sugar master Kinney's estate]. Love everlasting, –Curt
From Mormon chronicles: After traveling to Hawaii, Elders McKay and Cannon inspected the Church school at Laie and then visited the other islands. Elder Cannon particularly requested they visit Pulehu on Maui where his father, George Q. Cannon, had baptized the first Hawaiian in July 1851. Thirty-four years later, President McKay recalled the events of their visit to Maui.
“So we came up here, and this is where I was [pointing to a spot where a pepper tree had been], and as we looked at an old frame house that stood there then, he said, ‘That is probably the old chapel.’ It seemed to me it was over in the distance. Nothing else was here. We said ‘Well, probably that is the place. We are probably standing on the spot upon which your father, George Q. Cannon, and Judge Napela addressed those people.’ We became very much impressed with the surroundings, association, and spiritual significance of the occasion; as we had also been with the manifestations we had had on our trip to the Orient and thus far in Hawaii. I said, ‘I think we should have a word of prayer.’ . . .
“I offered the prayer. We all had our eyes closed, and it was a very inspirational gathering. As we started to walk away at the conclusion of the prayer, Brother Keola Kailimai took Brother E. Wesley Smith to the side and very earnestly began talking to him in Hawaiian. As we walked along, the rest of us dropped back. They continued walking, and Brother Kailimai very seriously told in Hawaiian what he had seen during the prayer. They stopped right over there [pointing a short distance away] and Brother E. Wesley Smith said, ‘Brother McKay, do you know what Brother Kailimai has told me?’ I answered, ‘No.’ ‘Brother Kailimai said that while you were praying, and we all had our eyes closed, he saw two men who he thought were Hugh J. Cannon and E. Wesley Smith step out of line in front of us and shake hands with someone, and he wondered why Brother Cannon and Brother Smith were shaking hands while we were praying. He opened his eyes and there stood those two men still in line, with their eyes closed just as they had been. He quickly closed his eyes because he knew he had seen a vision.’
“Now Brother Hugh J. Cannon greatly resembled Brother George Q. Cannon, his father. I spoke during the trip of his resemblance. Of course, E. Wesley Smith has the Smith attribute just as President Joseph Fielding Smith has it. Naturally, Brother Keola Kailimai would think that these two men were there. I said, ‘I think it was George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, two former missionaries to Hawaii, whom that spiritual-minded man saw.’
“We walked a few steps farther and I said, ‘Brother Kailimai, I do not understand the significance of your vision, but I do know that the veil between us and those former missionaries was very thin.’ Brother Hugh J. Cannon who was by my side, with tears rolling down his cheeks, said ‘ Brother McKay, there was no veil. ’” 10
10. David O. McKay, Cherished Experiences. Rev. and enl. Compiled by Clare Middlemiss (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976), pp. 115–16.
Prayer under a Pepper Tree: Sixteen Accounts of a Spiritual Manifestation
By Lavina Fielding Anderson
Records reveal vivid information from personal points of view, about a spiritual experience shared by five in Hawaii in 1921.
In 1920-21, David O. McKay, then a forty-seven-year-old Apostle, toured the worldwide missions of the Church, beginning with Japan and Korea. He dedicated the land of China for the preaching of the gospel, visited Hawaii, returned briefly to Salt Lake City for the funeral of President Anthon H. Lund, and then continued through the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Europe. He was accompanied on this arduous year-long tour by Hugh J. Cannon, president of Liberty Stake in Salt Lake City and a member of the Deseret Union Sunday School General Board, of which President McKay was general superintendent.
Among the many spiritual manifestations that occurred during this world tour came a remarkable event during the thirty-six hours they spent on Maui. President McKay and Brother Cannon docked at Maui at 4:30 A.M. February 9, 1921, held a meeting at mission headquarters in the morning, and held another for members in the evening; during the afternoon they visited the sites where Hugh J. Cannon’s father, George Q. Cannon, had met Jonatana H. Napela, resulting in the first baptism in Maul and the organization of the first branch of the Church in Hawaii, and where George Q. Cannon had also received intense spiritual manifestations. Accompanying the party were E. Wesley Smith, Hawaiian Mission president and a son of Joseph F. Smith, who had also served as a Hawaiian missionary; Samuel Harris Hurst, Jr., a missionary of mature years from Idaho who was then president of the Central Maul Conference; and David Keola Kailimai, a Hawaiian missionary, also of mature years, who owned the little Ford in which the party traveled.
Hugh J. Cannon was greatly touched by visiting the sites associated with his father, and on the grounds of the little chapel at Pulehu, President McKay felt inspired to offer a prayer of thanksgiving. During that prayer, all five men were deeply stirred spiritually, and Brother Kailimai, speaking in Hawaiian to President Smith, said he had seen a vision. President McKay, after President Smith translated Brother Kailimai’s words, did not interpret the vision but confirmed its divine origins by affirming that “the veil was very thin.” Hugh J. Cannon, who had been most profoundly affected during the experience, testified that, at least for him, there had been no veil.
What was the manifestation called forth by the combination of faith and filial love of these five Church leaders? How did the five experience it and how did they describe it, both then and later? What message does it have about the nature of spiritual experience for readers who learn of it through the more distant witness of the written record?
Thanks largely to the kindness of many members of the families involved, I have found sixteen separate accounts of this event, all but four of them unpublished. This essay examines these accounts in chronological order and in the context of the participants’ lives, as an exploration of the dynamics of memory, faith, love, and spirituality.
Samuel Harris Hurst’s Account
Of the five participants, only David Kailimai, the man who saw the vision, left no personal account, either at the time or later. Abigail Kahanu Kailimai Kailimai, who is both David’s niece and his daughter-in-law, does not recall an earlier oral version or, in fact, ever hearing this experience from Elder Kailimai. However, Samuel Harris Hurst, Jr., kept a daily diary and recorded the event within hours of its occurrence. Elder Hurst was then thirty-six, a native of Cache Valley, and a widower. His wife had died a lingering death from heart disease shortly before, leaving him with a ten-year-old daughter, Inez. He had had grave doubts about serving a mission under such circumstances but had accepted the calling, at least partly because of his child’s faith, even though he had to sell his farm to pay his expenses. His diary and his autobiography, written in 1958, breathe a solid, simple faithfulness that is very moving. He confesses that being called to Hawaii was “quite a test to my faith.” His patriarchal blessing had told him he would “go to the land of my forefathers,” which did not seem to be possible. He thought he would be too old to learn Hawaiian fluently and adds with humility, “I had desires to be a good speaker, and I could not see any development for me if simple natives were to be my audience.” He wrestled with his doubts about whether his call had been inspired “all the way to Hawaii.” But when he saw Wesley Smith, the mission president, waiting for him on the dock, he recognized him as the man with whom he had labored as a missionary in a dream seen two years earlier. This dream had occurred a year before Smith had been called as mission president. “With this,” recorded Elder Hurst, “I knew that some power other than that of man was having something to do with it.” Elder Hurst also knew that he would be assigned to some island other than Oahu before President Smith made the assignments.
Elder Hurst’s diary for February 8, 1921, records the prayer under the pepper tree in simple prose but eloquent detail:
Elder McKay, Pros. Smith and Cannon Elder Keola and myself drove . . . out to Pulehu where Pres. Geo. Q. Cannon had his wonderful experience in the conversion of so many of the natives and the first to join the church. As we sat in the little Ford in front of the meeting house there, Pres. Smith related to us the story of how Pres. Cannon in 1850 or 51 had delivered his wonderful discourse in a little church which then stood on the ground we were then on. At this meeting he appeared to be standing in the air with a hallow of light around his head. At the same time all but three of the over hundred persons there present were transfigured before him. Bro. Hugh J. Cannon being a son of Pres. Cannon was very deeply effected [sic] more so than any one I have ever saw before. We then alighted from the car and walked around the grounds. At the rear of the old church on the grounds now in the shade of an old tree, Elder McKay said: “Brethren I feel impressed that we should render our thanks to the Lord for the labors of this great man and his co-laborer Pres. Joseph F. Smith whose sons arc represented here today.” At this we bowed in humble reverence in prayer to God and then I listened to one of the grandest prayers it has ever been my privilege to listen to. At its close Elder Keola testified he saw a hand and arm extended to me in an attitude of shaking hands. In speaking of this later Bro. McKay said “Bro. Keola, I do not know the significance of the hand you saw, but I know this that the veil between us and the other world was very thin.” Bro. Cannon then said
Pulehu Chapel, Maui, Hawaii. In 1921, under the pepper tree seen on the right, Apostle David O. McKay offered a prayer of thanksgiving on behalf of himself and his companions, Hugh J. Cannon, E. Wesley Smith, Samuel Harris Hurst, Jr., and David Keola Kailimai. During the prayer, the party received a spiritual manifestation that moved them profoundly. Courtesy of BYU-Hawaii Archives.
“There was no veil at all” at which the apostle cast a penetrating look at him for he as well as we seemed to be in doubt as to whether Bro. Cannon had beheld a vision or not but no more was said at that time. In closing his remarks in a general meeting held at Wailuku tonight Elder McKay made mention of this again and with tears in the eyes of both men he turned to Bro. Cannon and staping [sic] on the shoulder said, “My Brother, you have been closer to your Father today than you have ever been before.”
Because Elder Hurst spoke Hawaiian, he probably heard Elder Kailimai’s testimony to President Smith as it was uttered. Neither here, on the very day that the event occurred, nor later, did Elder Hurst speculate on the possible meaning of this experience. He simply recorded Elder Kailimai’s words, President McKay’s response, and the powerful emotional and physical effect the manifestation had on Brother Cannon, along with Brother Cannon’s testimony of the temporary parting of the veil that separated him from his deceased father. Two of Elder Hurst’s daughters confirm that he did not interpret the story in telling it to them in later years. One of the daughters, Cleo Hurst Bailey, comments, “I have some personal feelings about it. All of those particular people–especially Hugh J. Cannon, E. Wesley Smith, and my father–had ancestors who took part in opening the islands to missionary work. I think all of those ancestors were there, and they knew it. It was a personal occasion, a quiet way of confirming that it was appropriate that my father be there.”
The ancestor of Elder Hurst who had assisted in nineteenth-century missionary efforts was his grandfather, Frederick William Hurst, whose diary includes moving accounts of visions, inspirational dreams, and answered prayers. He had been born on the Isle of Jersey; his family then emigrated to New Zealand, and as a young man in the goldfields of Australia, he joined the Church with his younger brother, Charles Clement Hurst. As a result, his angry mother disowned him and marked his name out of the family Bible. On April 27, 1855, he and his brother emigrated with seventy-two Saints aboard the Tarquinia. The ship was leaking so badly by the time they reached Honolulu that, after repairs and an attempt to continue, they returned to Honolulu where the ship was eventually condemned. Fred W. contributed all of his savings–a thousand dollars in nuggets sewn into his clothing–to send the other members, mostly families, on to California. He accepted a mission call from President Silas Smith and almost immediately went to Molokai, where he served from August 1855 to October 1856. Gifted with an irrepressible cheerfulness, he learned Hawaiian quickly and met poverty undaunted. Often he walked barefoot. For a long period of time, food was very scanty. On February 8, 1856, he recorded thankfully, “We had three meals today for the first time for I will not venture to say how long. We fasted about three days this week.”
After his mission, Fred Hurst worked his passage to northern California, where he voluntarily served another mission. When he was forty-two and living in Cache Valley with his wife and seven children, he was called to serve another mission, this time in New Zealand. He responded promptly though his eight-year-old daughter died three days before he left and his wife had six-month-old twins to care for in addition to five older children. In 1892-93, he worked as a painter on the Salt Lake Temple; he also served for many years as stake Sunday School superintendent in Cache Stake and served two stake missions. Throughout many years of poverty, sacrifice, and sorrow, he maintained a merry heart and strong faith. This was the man whose grandson joined in a prayer of thanksgiving with the sons of George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith under the pepper tree at Pulehu and to whose grandson Elder Kailimai saw extended a hand and arm in the “attitude of shaking hands.”
David O. McKay’s Early Accounts
The next account is President McKay’s detailed journal of his world tour, which remains unpublished except in excerpts. It is the most comprehensive source of the thirty-six hours the men spent on Maul. The mission history, although it records the young apostle’s visit, does not mention the incident at Pulehu. President McKay describes their visit to the George Q. Cannon sites, then gives this account of the prayer under the pepper tree:
It seemed to me . . . that we were treading on sacred ground; for surely the Lord was the close companion and guide of that intrepid and faithful missionary [George Q. Cannon].
We offered a united prayer on the ground, during which Bro. Keola seemed to see two men shaking hands. He thought Hugh J. was shaking hands with Elder Hurst, and was surprised when he opened his eyes to see Brother Cannon standing with bowed head and closed eyes! I do not
cKay party, February 1921, Maui, Hawaii. (vid O. McKay probably used the notebook seen in his hand for jotting down details of his journey. Pictured are Samuel Harris Hurst (on the left and wearing glasses), Elder McKay (in the center), David Keola Kailimai (behind and to the right of Elder McKay), E. Wesley Smith (with bow tie), and Hugh J. Cannon (wearing a Panama hat with a light band). Courtesy of Cleo Hurst Bailey, who owns the original, and the Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The 10 Mormon missionaries who opened up the “Sandwich Islands” included George Quayle Cannon, a former editor of the Deseret News.
Cannon — along with President Hiram Clark and Elders Henry Bigler, Hiram Blackwell, John Dixon, William Farrer, James Hawkins, James Keeler, Thomas Morris and Thomas Whittle — arrived in Oahu on Dec. 12, 1850. Cannon was 22.
The next day, they climbed a hill that overlooked Honolulu, where they constructed a stone altar and dedicated the land.
The work was challenging. The Hawaiian governor refused to let them meet freely, and Protestant ministers preached loudly against the “Mormon sinners.”
Cannon and the others were often ill and homesick. They ran out of money. The language barrier was frustrating.
But citing inspiration to do so, he focused his energy on the native islanders rather than the few white men and slowly made progress.
His journal entries — excerpted in Davis Bitton’s biography of Cannon — reflect his great love for the people.
When five of his disheartened companions decided to leave, he said, “This left me in this situation either to stay here and be blessed or to go home under condemnation.”
He was determined to see to the Lord’s work.
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“In fact, every time I had prayed to the Lord that there might be a good work done here, I had felt my bosom warm and felt the spirit continually whispering to me if I should persevere, I should be blest.”
When he could no longer pay the $10 demanded to rent a house, a woman by the name of Nalimanui offered him her hut and later her mat and blanket when he fell ill crossing the sea to Oahu.
Determined to get out among the people, Cannon visited Maui on foot, with the natives often carrying him on their backs across the island streams.
One day, crossing a swollen stream, he fell in the water, and a hospitable native and chief, Judge Jonathana Napela, took him in. Napela told him he’d had a vision of a minister of the gospel coming his way. He told Cannon, “My house, land and horses are all yours” and later painstakingly helped Cannon translate the Book of Mormon to Ka Buke a Moramona.
Elders Cannon and Keeler organized the first branch at Kealahou, the Pulehu Branch, in August 1851, in Kula on the island of Maui.
William Kauaiwiulaokalani Wallace III, a former director of BYU-Hawaii Hawaiian Studies, called Cannon one of the “great pioneer people” who brought light and truth to the islands.
Roy G. Bauer, director of the Hilo institute of religion, relates a story told by Abbie Kailimai’s father-in-law, who was with President David O. McKay in 1921 giving a prayer of thanksgiving in Pulehu.
“(President) McKay said, ‘I feel certain that President George Q. Cannon and President Joseph F. Smith are near, for the veil is very thin.’” His son Hugh J. Cannon said in a choked voice, “There is no veil.”
After leaving the islands, Cannon started a weekly newspaper in San Francisco — The Western Standard — that served as a forum for defending the church. Later, he worked for the Deseret News and was editor from 1867 to 1874. Before serving in the islands, he worked for the Times and Seasons in Nauvoo, Ill.
At age 33, Cannon became an apostle. He served as a counselor to Presidents Brigham Young, John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow and Wilford Woodruff. He died on April 13, 1901.
February 4th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
GEORGE Q. CANNON: HOW THE FOUNDING OF THE HAWAIIAN MISSION
AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UTAH STATEHOOD HELPED
THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW WORLD RELIGION
Mark W. Cannon
February 28, 2002
This is a “big picture” approach to some key historic developments that contributed to the restored Church subsequently rising “out of obscurity.”, and to George Q. Cannon’s role in those developments,.
The following themes will be explored:
1) Despite historic reviling of the Mormons, the LDS Church is being recognized as a “new world religion”.
2) How did George Q. Cannon’s Hawaiian Mission help lay the base for the remarkable world expansion of the Church?
3) Might Utah statehood have never come about?
4) How was attaining Utah statehood, partially through George Q. Cannon’s strategic leadership, critical to building a new world religion?
5) What other of his qualities helped build foundations for the emergence of the international Church?
6) Concluding summary.
1) Despite historic reviling of the restored Church, it is increasingly recognized as a “new world religion”.
As prophesied, the restored Church is coming “out of obscurity”, and moving toward being taught to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.
A leading religious sociologist, Rodney Stark, inaugurated a national conference of religious researchers with the startling declaration that they had the unique opportunity to see the emergence of the first new world religion since Mohammed rode out into the desert some 1600 years ago.
Renowned Yale literature professor Harold Bloom calls himself agnostic, yet he declared in his book, The American Religion: “I…do not find it possible to doubt that Joseph Smith was an authentic prophet. Where in all of American history can we find his match?”
Bloom asserts: “Mormonism…may prove decisive for this nation, and for more than this nation alone. He writes: “No other American religious movement is so ambitious, and no rival even remotely approaches the spiritual audacity that drives endlessly toward accomplishing a titanic design.” He projects hundreds of millions of Mormons in the new century.
Another evidence of the Church coming “out of obscurity” is Joel Kotkin’s book on Tribes. As ethnic ties have emerged as powerful in the global economy, he focuses on five major tribes: the Jews, the British, the Japanese, the Chinese and the Indians. These groups have in common a sense of mutual dependence, emphasis on family structure, a global network based on tribal trust that allows the group to function collectively, a passion for technology and a belief in scientific progress.
Kotkin sees “Mormon models of thrift, sobriety and family values as more effective than traditional faiths” for upward mobile people in developing countries.
Assuming Mormons maintain coherence and growth, they “could conceivably emerge as the next great global tribe, fulfilling as they believe, the prophecies of ancient and modern prophets.”
It is monumentally important that the Mormons would become the first multi-ethnic tribe – the first group that could bring vast numbers of ethnically diverse peoples into harmonious living with common constructive values.
One more indication of the emergence of the Church occurred when I was at a seminar with Peter Drucker at Harvard in 1989. This institutional analyst, with gigantic stature, said: “The Mormons are the only Utopia that ever worked”.
Shifting to the mass media, the full color cover Sesquicentennial feature in Time concluded: “The Church represents a combination of virtues that may make it the religion of America’s future.”
That all this emerged from a youth with little formal education (which astounds Harold Bloom) one and three quarters centuries ago is miraculous. We can ask what laid the basis to produce this miracle.
2) How did George Q. Cannon’s Hawaiian Mission help lay the base for the remarkable world expansion of the Church?
George Q. Cannon’s Hawaiian Mission was in some ways comparable to Peter’s history-changing vision that the Gospel was to go beyond the House of Israel to all people. Though five other missionaries quit because Caucasians rejected the message, it was revealed to Elder Cannon that he should bring the Gospel to the Hawaiians. He was a major force in some 4,000 baptisms, translating the Book of Mormon and making sure that Hawaiians held the Priesthood and became effective Church leaders.
How was the successful Hawaiian mission a launching pad for the international Church? First, together with Tahitians, Hawaiians were the first large group of non-Caucasians to come into the Church, thereby implanting in the minds and hearts of Church members — early in their history — that the Gospel was for distant and different people who responded to the spirit.
Second, the Hawaiian experience, which shaped George Q. Cannon’s life, embedded in him the deep conviction that all human beings are God’s children and must have our love and sympathetic understanding.
One historic incident displayed George Q. Cannon’s instantaneous loving outreach.
Elders William Hansen and Harvey Carlisle started proselyting in Lillington, North Carolina in 1897. They were arrested, imprisoned, and denied food and water unless they denounced their religion. They refused and were told they would die. Later, a group came to their cell, led by a tall, well-educated Black man, Postmaster Williams. He asked: “Do you know a man in Utah by the name of George Q. Cannon?” The elders responded that they did and that Mr. Cannon was a member of the First Presidency of the Church. “With that the colored man turned to the city officials and said, ‘Turn these men loose!’” He then took the Elders to dinner and told them this story:
Several years ago, while I was walking in the Nation’s “Capitol a door was opened very suddenly which knocked my silk hat off my head and it fell to the floor. A gentleman picked up my hat, took his handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the dust off, and in a very polite manner handed me my hat. I said to this gentleman, ‘May I ask your name, and where you are from, and who taught you such manners as to stoop and pick up a colored man’s hat?’
The man informed me that his name was George Q. Cannon, that he was there representing…Utah, and that the Church of which he was a member taught…that we should respect all men, no matter what color or creed…, as we are all children of God”. Mr. Williams promised to return the favor to other Mormons if the opportunity arose.
According to Asian scholar and former Korean Temple President, Spencer Palmer, George Q. Cannon was decades ahead of his time in the breadth of his vision of a world wide Church for all people.
Elder Cannon’s understanding that God loves and is involved with the entire human race is evidenced by his comments on the universality of revelation:
“…there is no…[one] upon the face of the earth who has not the right and who has not obtained…revelations from God …. Plato, Socrates, Confucius…received important truths from Him…
George Q. believed that “Mahomet…was a man raised up by the Almighty and inspired to a certain extent by Him…. [Mahomet] attacked idolatry and restored the great and crowning idea that there is but one God.”
“God has given great light and knowledge…to Luther and Calvin…and John Wesley…. But this is the superiority that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ possesses. Its great Teacher is the Redeemer of the world.”
This remarkable breadth of George Q.’s vision of God’s involvement with every race and tribe influenced Church members because of President Cannon’s high level of service. He was a counselor to Brigham Young, and the First Counselor to Presidents John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow. Orson Whitney in his History of Utah concluded that “no man in Utah after the passing of Brigham Young wielded with all classes so great an influence as President George Q. Cannon.”
The third implication of the Hawaiian Mission was to create an LDS bastion in the heart of the Pacific. Diverse Asians came to Hawaii and some, or their descendants, joined the Church. The first Temple outside the continental U.S. made all ordinances available to people of the Pacific. When Asian missions were opened after World War II, Hawaii provided missionaries who could understand the cultures of Asian countries, and sometimes their languages. BYU Hawaii provided educational opportunities for Pacific Basin peoples to grow spiritually together, marry and build families within the Church, and create lasting friendship networks.
3) Why might Utah statehood never have come about?
Many people today cannot imagine the intensity of political animosity toward the Mormons in the later decades of the 1800s. A few facts show what a steep uphill battle it was to win statehood.
o In 1862, the Morrill Act provided a $500 fine and up to five years in prison for any married person in U.S. territory that married another person. It also prohibited the Church from owning more than $50,000 worth of property.
o Fearing that Church property would be taken, Brigham Young transferred much of it to his estate. Such writers as Irving Stone in Men to Match My Mountains imply that by leaving an estate of some $3 million, Brigham had exploited the Saints that he led. However, George Q. Cannon was the Chief Executor of Brigham’s estate and suffered prison for three weeks rather than give up control over the estate, thereby protecting what belonged to the Church. Less than a tenth went to Brigham’s numerous heirs.
o The propaganda war against the Mormons portrayed the Church as an “imperium in imperio….as un-American in character; un-American in membership; insubordinate to the authority of the United States Government; flagrant in violating the anti-polygamy law.”
The intensity of the war against the Mormons was shown by use of such epithets as “inoculation of evil”, “poison”, “leprosy”, “pollution”, “stain”, “blot”, “virus”, and “cancer”. The Mormon “impurity” had to be “obliterated”, “extirpated”, “destroyed”, “blotted out”, “crushed” or “blown out of existence”.
o The crusade against the Mormons drew such large crowds that former U.S. Vice President Schuyler Colfax (a beneficiary of the Credit Mobilier scandal) could denounce the Mormons to an audience of 50,000 people.
o Elections of Mormons to be Territorial Delegate were frequently contested in Congress by the loser, beginning in 1867 when William McGroarty with 105 votes contested the election of William Hooper with 15,074 votes.
o George Q. Cannon was elected to Congress in 1872. He and his Congressional friends derailed most anti-Mormon legislation. However, the Poland Bill, after being stripped of its worst features by Senator Aaron Sargeant of California, was enacted in 1874. It largely turned the Utah courts over to non-Mormons.
o Although Mormons contended that the Biblical practice of polygamy was allowed under Constitutional freedom of religion, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1879 decided the contrary. Chief Justice Waite paid little homage to religious action — as against opinion — that violated law, and paid no attention to the way polygamy was actually practiced and its positive eugenic results.
o The Supreme Court decision encouraged anti-Mormon crusaders, which led to passage of the Edmunds Act of 1882, a powerful blow against the Saints. This act:
-punished Mormon cohabitation;
-excluded believers in polygamy from juries;
-disqualified polygamists and cohabitors from voting or holding public office;
-controlled Utah elections.
-Congressional hypocrisy and intent to punish Mormons alone was displayed when Senator Morgan (D-Alabama) moved to apply the cohabitation penalties in the territories against concubines as well as against Mormon plural wives. The amendment was rejected by forty-four votes to only seven in favor.
o After passage of the Edmunds Act, the House of Representatives denied George Q. Cannon his seat. The vote fell short of two thirds, which would have been required if the House had treated a Delegate as they would have treated a Member.
o The Church leaders became moving targets of the Judicial Crusade, operating from an underground of secret locations. President John Taylor, for example, died in an obscure home in Kaysville in 1887.
o Rewards were offered for the capture of Church leaders and several went to prison, including George Q. Cannon, where he wrote Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet.
o In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker Act was passed. In a nation that exalts the right of private corporations, the L.D.S. Church was disincorporated. In a country that exalts the right of private property, all but $50,000 of Church property was to be escheated and used for schools. In a nation that exalts the right of citizens to vote, voting was denied to those who would not sign an anti-polygamy test oath. Gentiles soon took over the Ogden and Salt Lake City governments.
o The Territory of Idaho enacted a law that denied the vote to all Mormons by a test oath that the prospective voter was not a member of any organization teaching its devotees to commit bigamy or polygamy.
o Even worse, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Idaho statute in Davis v. Beason on February 3, 1890. Chief Justice Warren Burger once told me that Davis v. Beason, more than any other case that he had ever read, reflected the personal views and prejudices of the Justices, rather than careful constitutional reasoning.
4) How was attaining Utah statehood, partially through George Q. Cannon’s strategic leadership, critical to the foundation of building a new world religion?
Had a reconciliation not been worked out, the Church could have been in extremely dire straights. Statehood for Utah might have been indefinitely lost. Utah could have become a permanent territory and might have been treated somewhat like an Indian Reservation, but under the tight control of politically appointed carpetbaggers. Utah also could have been carved up and given to other states, so that no state had a majority LDS population.
Although polygamy was far from the most causal issue producing the anti-Mormon crusade, it was the most highly visible, and non-Mormon leaders made clear there would never be statehood and the crusade would continue until the polygamy issue was resolved. George Q. Cannon, First Counselor to President Wilford Woodruff discussed these issues frequently with him. President Woodruff, a particularly spiritual Prophet, pondered, prayed and waited for inspiration of the Lord, which came on September 20, 1890.
This led to President Woodruff’s “Official Declaration” to abide by the law forbidding plural marriages. In supporting the Manifesto at the Church Conference, George Q. Cannon explained that it had come from God because it had become necessary to yield to the demands of the country in order to save the people. George Q. pointed to scripture that if every effort were made to carry out a commandment and it was still impossible to adhere to it, the person receiving the commandment would be absolved of responsibility.
The issuance of the Manifesto alone was insufficient to obtain Utah Statehood. This was suggested in 1887 — the sixth statehood convention produced a proposed State Constitution stating that “bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with a republican form of government, each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor.” Nevertheless, that failed to produce statehood.
George Q. Cannon, sometimes referred to as “The Mormon Premier” or “The Mormon Richelieu” was the chief strategist and negotiator, for such matters as dividing Church members into political parties, persuading national political leaders that they should not offend the quarter of a million Mormons who could influence many intermountain area elections, persuading skeptical political leaders that the Church would not function as a theocracy, and negotiating with former Congressional friends such as Secretary of State James G. Blaine, a leading Republican. Decades of effort for statehood led to successful culmination in 1896. Elder B.F. Cummings described Elder Cannon as “the greatest master of practical statecraft the Church had produced.”
It would be hard to exaggerate how important Utah statehood, to which President Cannon contributed significantly, was to the growth of the Church and its ultimate emergence as a new world religion. Let us explore some of the ways this was the case.
o Back to the mission of the Church. The Church was able to refocus energy on religious objectives. For example, more than twice as many missionaries, 11,503, were set apart in the quarter century after statehood as during the quarter century preceding, 5,089.
o The lepers became leaders. With statehood, the outcast Mormons elected Members of the House and Senate, without trying to monopolize those positions. Although the election of an Apostle, Reed Smoot, to the U.S. Senate in 1902 was controversial, his emergence into a powerful and respected Senate leader, as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and his political leadership for 30 years, symbolized the transition of Mormons from pariahs to an unusual, but still acceptable, part of America.
o Smoot diligently helped many hundreds of talented Mormons obtain government positions in Washington, who, without his presence, might not have made it because of the stigma on Mormons in that era. Because Smoot’s young people performed well, he was sometimes asked to supply more of those bright young people. Many went on to influential positions in government, such as Edgar Brossard, who was appointed to the Federal Tariff Commission by five Presidents from 1925 to 1959, and long served as its chairman. Similarly, Rosel Hyde came to Washington to attend George Washington Law School at night and work for the government during the day. He served on the Federal Communications Commission from 1946 to 1969, much of that time as its chairman.
Others went on to influential positions in business. For example, Smoot’s last secretary, Isaac “Ike” Stewart, became Vice President of Union Carbide and President of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Stan McAllister, became Vice President of Lord and Taylor in New York, and helped the Church in that area.
Smoot helped an active Church member, William M. Jardine, become the first Mormon appointed to a cabinet position as Secretary of Agriculture in 1925. He subsequently became President of Kansas State University. Hal G. Smith of the New York Times, who covered Washington for nearly 40 years, attributed Smoot’s success in placing people not to a machine or any nefarious activity, but to his long service, party position, and the generally superior quality of the people he recommended.
Smoot’s demonstration that Mormons were acceptable parts of the government probably helped lay the base for the first Mormon appointed to a subcabinet position, even though that person was a Democrat and had run against Smoot for the Senate. This was James D. Moyle who became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in 1917. This may also have resulted partially from the fact that Moyle’s boss, Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo, while a law student, had been required to defend the Mormons in a successful debate. He had obtained ideas and information from Territorial Delegate George Q. Cannon and became friendly toward the Mormons while developing his case.
Incidentally, Smoot was at least equally encouraging to non-Mormons in helping them find jobs in the Capital. For example, Smoot persuaded President Harding to appoint former U.S. Senator from Utah George Sutherland, a non-Mormon graduate of BYU, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Other Mormon Senators from Utah have followed Smoot’s model. For example, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch was one of the highest Senators in placing appointees in the Reagan Administration.
The tradition of Mormons coming to Washington and often staying there, that resulted from statehood, has led to the greater Washington, D.C. area having 19 stakes. This is one of the largest concentrations of Mormons east of Utah. Mormons are in the three branches of government, law firms and associations that influence government, and think tanks that study government policies.
o Smoot focused his indefatigable energy primarily on his political role. However, when the Church needed help he gave it. For example, after World War I, Great Britain and European countries excluded Mormon missionaries, by refusing them visas. In 1919, George Albert Smith, wrote from England that the Church was being almost smothered by persecution, and the exclusion of missionaries. He questioned whether the Church could survive in Europe. Senator Smoot enlisted the U.S. Secretary of State, and they both sent many cables pressing for the granting of visas to missionaries. He also met with the British and other European ambassadors. Agreements resulted, but were only partially kept. So, in 1923 Smoot toured England, France, Germany and Scandinavia. He met with media baron Lord Beaverbrook and was pleased with published interviews in major newspapers in London and the continent. He was featured as the powerful Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He met with the highest officials of each country where he pressed for consistent granting of visas. That ended the problems.
Since then, there have been many meetings with Utah Senators and other LDS public officials and foreign ambassadors to get or to keep missionaries in foreign countries. Examples of the results include Communist Hungary’s acceptance of missionaries, the early recognition of the Church in the Soviet Union and allowing missionaries to function in Russia after a new law that could have been interpreted to exclude them (a commitment encouraged by a visit of Senator Robert Bennett to Moscow, with the approval of the U.S. State Department) and allowing missionaries into Ghana after they had been prohibited. Sometimes non-Mormon leaders have been enlisted to help.
Most Islamic countries do not permit religious missionaries. However, Mormons have developed good relations with many Islamic officials by coordinating efforts to protect traditional family values from groups pressuring the United Nations in other directions. In addition, Islamic leaders have expressed appreciation at dinners for BYU’s long term Islamic Translation Series which translate into English, for the first time, respected Islamic Texts. The first presentation to Islamic leaders from Washington embassies and, in New York, United Nations representatives was Al-Ghazali’s The Incoherence of the Philosophers. Former Utah State Senate President Karl Snow handled liaison with U.N. Representatives in New York.
Beverly Campbell and Ann Santini have been liaison to ambassadors, and have brought several dozen ambassadors and high embassy officials to such events as: the annual BYU Management Society Dinner in Washington, D.C.; the annual Festival of Lights where in 1998 the Chinese Ambassador turned on more than 300,000 Christmas lights at the Temple Visitors Center and made especially positive comments about the Mormons; the annual Western Family Picnic at the Marriott Ranch in Hume, Virginia which is a virtually unique diplomatic event since ambassadors bring their families and which was attended by representatives of 53 countries with 28 ambassadors on September 25, 1999; and a presentation by the Polynesian Cultural Center on the Maryland estate of Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon which attracted 14 Pacific Basin Ambassadors the evening of June 8, 1999.
Smoot also took Church leaders such as Presidents Joseph F. Smith and Heber J. Grant to meet with Presidents of the United States at the White House, as well as introduced them to cabinet members to keep friendly relationships and encourage communication. Senator Smoot helped arrange Presidential visits. He persuaded William Howard Taft to visit Utah twice and to meet with Church leaders. Taft was the first President of the United States to speak in the Tabernacle. President Warren G. Harding and Woodrow Wilson also spoke in the Tabernacle.
During the revolution in Mexico, Smoot got protective aid to the Mormon colonies.
Elder Smoot held Church in his home on Sundays, until the 1920’s, when he helped negotiate the land for a highly visible Mormon chapel, with a gold-covered statue of Moroni on top located on 16th street, north of the White House.
o Ask yourself the question: Is it likely that there would have been even one Mormon U.S. Senator in Washington had the Church remained in New York, Ohio, Missouri or Illinois and been a small minority population? Winning the Utah statehood battle enabled 11 LDS Senators to be elected from Utah, and an additional 6 have been elected largely from neighboring states. The persecution of the Mormons, though deplorable, moved the Saints to a desolate area in which they could be a majority in what ultimately became a state — which provided the opportunity to build extraordinary political leverage. This history could not easily have been more brilliantly planned to achieve the end goal of building a strong Washington base that helped bring status and positive visibility to the Church as well as the ability to plead effectively with foreign governments to allow missionaries freedom to proselyte.
My close observation of the Mormon political community since the 1950’s indicates that Utah’s statehood not only produced Mormon Senators, but they became role models for many young Mormons who entered politics in States outside of Utah. Also, Mormon Senators made it acceptable in many people’s minds for Mormons to hold high elective positions. This led to the election of active LDS Senators Harry Reid from Nevada (currently Senate Majority Whip), Gordon Smith from Oregon, and Michael Crapo of Idaho, and previously, Paula Hawkins from Florida. Incidentally, she was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate who was neither the wife nor the daughter of a politician. There was also a near miss by Dick Swett in New Hampshire. It led to there being 11 current LDS Members of the House of Representatives, including Delegate Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa, and George Q. Cannon’s great grandson, Christopher B. Cannon from Utah.
o The fact that an Apostle served in the Senate for thirty years set a precedent that facilitated the naming of a later Apostle, Ezra Taft Benson, as Secretary of Agriculture for eight years. He accomplished the seemingly impossible — moving much of American agriculture from regimentation toward free markets.
o Utah Statehood has also led to there being over 200 LDS staff members in the Congress. This makes at least a modest contribution to Congressional defense of legitimate LDS needs. For example, when religious extremists in Israel were threatening to stop the development of the strikingly beautiful BYU Center in Jerusalem, Congressman Tom Lantos was persuaded by LDS Congressman Wayne Owens to be a leader in a drive that obtained some 200 signatures of House Members on a petition that helped make sure that the BYU center was allowed to be completed and to function. Senator Orrin Hatch and his assistant, Frank Madsen, led the fight in the Senate. For Congressman Lantos, a Jewish Democratic Congressman from California, this fit his ideological commitments to freedom of the mind, and the free exchange of ideas. However, it did not hurt that his wife was a convert to the Church and his Administrative Assistant, BYU alumnus Robert King, is LDS.
5) How else did George Q. Cannon help build the foundation for the emergence of the international Church.
We will mention a few of the other ways that George Q. Cannon contributed to foundations for future Church growth.
First, he articulated positions of the Church eloquently and persuasively in speeches and writings. As Editor of the Deseret News, he converted it into a daily newspaper. He wrote over 1000 editorials for the Juvenile Instructor which he founded and edited for 35 years. He wrote many hundreds of editorials in the Western Standard, Millennial Star and Deseret News. More than 300 of his discourses were printed. President Gordon B. Hinckley has said “I don’t know of a man, really, who had a better understanding of the doctrine, of the government, of the principles of the Church than did George Q. Cannon. Among the three or four books outside the Standard Works to which I turn most frequently, is the volume Gospel Truth containing the statements of George Q. Cannon.”
Second, he made friends for the Church wherever he went. It was after interviewing him and seeing the boatload of British Mormons that he was supervising that Charles Dickens called the Mormons, much to his surprise, “the pick and flower of England.”
Third, with little formal schooling, he became highly educated through relentless reading and he strongly encouraged education among the Saints to build their knowledge and skills. He promoted the creation of centers of education. He offered the dedicatory prayer for the Brigham Young Academy lower campus education building (1892) whose facade is now preserved while the inside has been made into an ultra-modern library, which exhibits his photo, bio and dedicatory prayer. He was chairman of its Board of Trustees from 1897 until he died in 1901. He strongly supported education for both sexes and initiated and edited the Juvenile Instructor, the first children’s magazine in the Intermountain West (1866). He helped organize and was the first General Superintendent of the Sunday School Union of the Church (1867). President Heber J. Grant wrote “there has been no other man in Utah who has shown such marked ability in so many different ways as has he…the broad educational views held by President Cannon entitle him to be ranked as one of the foremost men from an educational standpoint that Utah has ever produced.” The Church’s promotion of education and science that George Q. Cannon’s activities represented contributed to Utah regularly producing more scientists and Ph.D.s than any other state in relation to population.
Fourth, he married talented wives and replenished the earth with descendants who served missions and tried to represent the Gospel in their professions. Those helped into the Church by the descendants of George Q. and of his brothers and sisters, and the chains of people that those new members helped convert may well exceed a quarter of a million people. Probably the closest single parallel in subsequent Church history to the massive baptisms performed in Hawaii by Elder Cannon and his associates was done by his grandson Ted Cannon and Rendall Mabey, who baptized about 1,700 people in opening up the West African Mission in the 1970s. A great grandson of George Q. Cannon played a role in the baptism of a Nigerian pastor who aspires to bring his congregations of thousands into the Church.
President Gordon Hinckley said: “Perhaps no man in the history of the Church has produced a family such as the descendants of George Q. Cannon. They have been Church leaders, yes, but there have been Cannons who have served with distinction in almost every walk of life…. They have made a tremendous contribution to the Church, and to the society in which they have been a part.”
5) Concluding Summary.
In conclusion, the Mormons have gone through a remarkable transformation from being viewed predominantly as a strange, tiny, authoritarian, narrowminded group to becoming increasingly recognized by intellectual observers as an unusual, tightly organized, significant, dynamic world religion, which helps resolve many human problems.
Two important factors that helped make this transformation possible are the early successful Hawaiian Mission and the achievement of statehood for Utah.
George Q. Cannon’s successful Hawaiian mission, with Hawaiians being ordained to the Priesthood and becoming spiritual leaders led to feelings of community and brotherhood by the Utah Saints with people from very different racial and cultural backgrounds, This helped Mormons sustain future expansion of the Church into other racial and cultural groups. It also embedded in George Q. the conviction that all of God’s children are important, can and do receive revelation and should be reached by the Gospel. Not only was he universally minded, but his strong leadership and speaking and writing responsibilities educated Church members with his universal emphases. Furthermore, the successful Hawaiian Mission created a stronghold that helped expand the Church into Asian countries after World War II.
Another major rocket launcher for the emergence of a new world religion was winning, with George Q. Cannon’s strategic leadership, the seemingly impossible battle for Utah statehood. This had a cascading effect. Statehood itself produced some degree of acceptability. The election of Mormon Senators and Representatives shifted Mormons from being excluded to entering into positions of policy and political influence, brought further acceptance of Church members, and helped many other LDS gain positions in Washington that ultimately led to their obtaining political and economic leadership.
These role models stimulated many other Mormons to enter politics and seek and sometimes obtain positions of influence, and helped attract a very large LDS population, many of whom are influential, in or near the nation’s capitol. All of this has led to the election of five current Mormon Senators and 12 previous ones, as well as 11 current Mormon members of the House of Representatives and 46 previous ones. This strong Mormon presence, much of which would never have existed without winning the battle of statehood for Utah, facilitated positive and effective communication with foreign ambassadors and leaders which helps keep the missionaries in most countries in the world and helps protect against persecution of members in most countries where they live. This is important for the future since efforts are growing in many countries to restrict the rights of non-traditional churches.
This strong Mormon presence in the most powerful capital in the world also promotes a flow of cosmopolitan perceptions and information back to Salt Lake City. These influential Washington based Mormons also facilitate positive communications and images in the national and foreign media, and create connections with many powerful decision makers. One thing that facilitates Mormon influence is that unlike many interest groups, Mormons are not soliciting Federal subsidies, but are seeking the freedom to worship and share their views in the market place of ideas — both of which are central to the American constitutional ethos. All of these factors have been important to the emergence of the new world religion.
Many millions of people have been killed by ethnic hatreds and wars. Thus, the LDS emergence as a well-functioning multi-ethnic religion (though not without adjustment problems) with a dwindling proportion of Caucasian members, is noteworthy. If it continues to succeed in the challenge of harmonizing such diverse cultures as it continues to grow, other institutions may wish to examine that model.
ENDNOTES
. Mark Cannon received his Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University where he wrote a prize winning dissertation on “The Mormon Issue in Congress 1872-1882: Drawing on the Experience of Territorial Delegate George Q. Cannon”. He has served as Staff Director, Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution; Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice of the United States; Director, Institute of Public Administration, New York; Chairman, BYU Department of Political Science; Legislative Assistant to Senator Wallace Bennett; Administrative Assistant to Congressman Henry Aldous Dixon. He was also a founding owner of Geneva Steel.
. Doctrine and Covenants 1:30.
. Keynote address to the joint convention of the Religious Research Association and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, in Salt Lake City, October 27, 1989.
. “The prophet Joseph has proved again that economic and social forces do not determine human destiny.” The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation, (Simon and Schuster, 1992), p.95.
. Ibid. p. 97.
6. Ibid. p.94. More recently, Bloom observed — in the early pages where it was most likely to be read: “Perhaps…in the twenty-first century, when Mormonism has become the dominant religion of at least the American West, those who come after us will experience a….shock when they encounter the daring of the authentic American prophet Joseph Smith in his definitive visions, The Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants.” Harold Bloom, The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages, (Harcourt Brace, 1994), p. 6. In his new book on Angels, Bloom attributes much of the contemporary popular interest in Angels to the impact of the Angel Moroni on American thinking. He prefers Joseph Smith’s concept that Angels can only help us with things that we cannot do for ourselves. He again broadly praises Joseph Smith. Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams and Resurrection, (Riverhead Books, 1997), p.224.
.Joel Kotkin, Tribes: How Race, Religion and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 248
. Ibid, p. 249.
9. As just one example, many Blacks have joined the Church in the Menlo Park Stake. One Black convert, Aaron Johnson, who teaches the High Priests in his ward, has said that the LDS Church has less race prejudice than any other organization he has ever observed. He believes the only way racial reconciliation will come is through the Church. The Stake has taken on the commitment of making sure that no student in the Stake is deprived of higher education or training because of financial need. Based on Gospel values, LDS businessmen created and funded Beechwood, an elementary school for underprivileged students. The school requires parents to take a parenting class and work regularly with their children. Despite alarmingly low high school graduation rates in the area, the first class to have completed preschool through the eighth grade are now high school graduates, and almost all of the Beechwood alumni will graduate from high school. Many will go on to higher education. One present and one recent Bishop in this Stake are married to Asians. Stanford Ward operates a thriving tutoring program where Stanford students interact with Samoan children twice a week. Interviews with Mary Finlayson, September 8, 1997 and September 21, 1999, and Stake President Boyd Smith, November 1 and 3, 1997, and Aaron Johnson, November 3, 1997.
. This statement was confirmed and its publication was approved in exchange of correspondence between Mark W. Cannon and Peter Drucker, May 18, 1989 and July 5, 1989.
. David Van Biema, “Mormons, Inc.” Time, August 4, 1997, pp. 50-57.
. Even such noted historians as Morison and Commager, in a history text used until after World War II, dismissed Mormons as having remained near to the low “cultural level from which they were recruited” and as being “barren in the arts” and “too autocratic for wholesome civic life.” Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager, The Growth of the American Republic, 2 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1937), 1:473. The historic outpour of anti-Mormon writing prevented even many historians who thought themselves objective from seeing Mormonism realistically until recent decades. Describing anti-Mormon’s statements about the Mormons, Hubert Howe Bancroft noted that in all his historical writing, he had never encountered such a “mass of mendacity”. He generally attributed accuracy to what Mormons wrote. History of Utah 1540 to 1887, (San Francisco, The History Company, 1890), preface.
. Joel G. Hancock, Strengthened by the Storm: The coming of the Mormons to Harkers Island, N.C., 1897 – 1909. pp. 29-31.
. Interview, September 20, 1997.
. Jerreld L. Newquist, ed. Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of George Q. Cannon. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1987, p.238, citing Journal of Discourses 21, 74-77.
. Gospel Truth, p.242, citing Journal of Discourses, 24:371.
. Gospel Truth, p. 241, citing Journal of Discourses, 12:30.
. (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons Company Publishers, 1904), VI, 663.
. See Leonard J. Arrington, “Settlement of the Brigham Young Estate, 1877-79,” Pacific History Review, 21:1-20, February, 1952.
. Mark W. Cannon, “The Mormon Issue In Congress 1872 -1882: Drawing On The Experience Of Territorial Delegate George Q. Cannon”, Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 1960, p. 176.
. Ibid, p.217.
. Reynolds v. United States, 98 U. S. 166 (1878).
. U. S. Statutes at Large, 47th Congress, 1881-83, (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883), p. 31.
. Congressional Record, 47th Congress, First Session, February 15, 1882, p. 1215.
25. President Cannon agreed to turn himself in and go to prison in exchange for President Grover Cleveland appointing moderate judges.
. (Deseret Book Company, 1986.) President Ezra Taft Benson told me that he liked this biography so much that he asked Deseret Book to republish it. (July, 1985)
. 133 U. S. 333 (1890).
. Doctrine and Covenants, p. 291-93.
. Edward Leo Lyman, Political Deliverance: The Mormon Quest for Utah Statehood, (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986), p. 49 and forward.
. John M. Coyner, (ed.) Handbook on Mormonism, (Salt Lake City: Handbook Publishing Co., 1882), p.47, reprinting C. C. Goodwin, “The Mormon Situation”, Harper’s, LXIII, (October, 1881), 756-63.
. Arthur S. Street, “The Mormon Richelieu”, Ainslee’s Magazine, IV (January, 1990), pp. 699-706.
. Leo Lyman points out that after losing his seat in Congress, George Q. Cannon “did, however, remain a frequent visitor at the nation’s capital. Besides assisting his replacement, John T. Caine, a monogamist Mormon, he would still directly manage several of the steps toward eventual statehood.” Op. Cit., pp. 23, 30. Lyman describes Cannon as a “great statesman”. p. 282.
. The Contributor, 16:118-132.
. This takes the 25 years prior to the enabling act for statehood of 1894, compared to the 25 years after statehood in 1896. Church Almanac 1997-98, p. 532.
. In the early period Utah elected non-Mormons Tom Kearns and George Sutherland to the U.S. Senate, and elected one of America’s first Jewish Governors, Simon Bamberger.
. M.R. Merrill, Reed Smoot: Utah Politician, (Utah State Agricultural College, Monograph Series, April, 1953), p. 53.
. Mark W. Cannon, The Innovative Heritage of Mormonism, Co.mmissioner’s Lecture Series, Church Education System, Brigham Young University Press, 1974, p. 9.
. Smoot was accused by some Mormons of giving a majority of jobs to Gentiles even though they were only about one third of the Utah population. Ibid. p. 15.
. Interviews with Harvard Heath, Curator of the Utah and American West Archives, BYU, who researched these actions of Senator Smoot, September 17 and October 2, 1997.
. After Smoot’s wife died, he married, in 1930, Alice Taylor Sheets, the widowed mother of J. Willard Marriott’s wife. This did not damage the remarkable growth of the Marriott Hot Shoppes. For rich information on Smoot, see Milton R. Merrill, Reed Smoot: Apostle in Politics, (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1990).
41. See comprehensive study of “Mormons in Congress, 1851-2000” by Robert R. King and Kay Atkinson King in Journal of Mormon History, Fall 2000.
42. Mark W. Cannon, “New George Q. Cannon Building at BYU”, 1958, p. 4.
. Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, Address at funeral service of Adrian W. Cannon, June 11, 1991.
. Charles Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveler, (Boston: Dana Estes and Company, 1964), p.303.
. Fund raising has been led by former BYU engineering Dean Doug Smoot, who is, appropriately, the great grandson of A. O. Smoot, who funded the Brigham Young Academy in its early years.
46. The Young Women’s Journal, 12:243-5.
47. This was shown by nine studies over more than half a century that are summarized in Mark W. Cannon, “Latter-day Saints and Science” Meridian Magazine (online) 5/19/2002.
.
48.Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, Address at funeral service of Adrian W. Cannon, June 11, 1991. President Hinckley also made similar comments at the unveiling of the statue of George Q. Cannon and Napela in front of the George Q. Cannon Activities Center at BYU Hawaii October 10, 1997: “George Q. Cannon has for a long time been one of my favorites among the stalwart brethren of the Church…. He served as counselor to four presidents of the Church. His published teachings are a literal gold mine of the doctrine of this Church. He had remarkable capacity for saying things in a way that made them very easy to understand. His testimony was strong and secure…. He communed with the Lord Jesus Christ, and it had a wonderful pattern upon his life…I’ve said it as a non-Cannon, that I think perhaps the George Q. Cannon family has produced more men and women of talents and ability and capacity than any other family in the Church. They have literally produced generals, ambassadors, architects, lawyers, doctors, merchants…. I have admired them for a long long time and the tremendous contribution which they made to the Church and significantly most of them have kept the faith and made a great contribution to this Church and moved this work forward in the world. Thanks to the Cannon family.”
February 4th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel — hard to imagine marriage without love/romance. Love everlasting, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth from Child Bible Story Online:
A kind, old woman named Naomi lived far from her homeland. Her husband and sons had died. All she had left were her two daughters-in-law. One day, Naomi told them, “I must return to my homeland. I’ll miss you, but I’m just an old woman. There’s nothing I can do for you.”
“Please, Naomi,” begged Ruth, one of the daughters-in-law. “Let me go where you go. Your people will be my people. And your God will be my God.” And so Naomi agreed. And the two women traveled for many days until they finally reached Naomi’s hometown, a place called Bethlehem.
“It’s time for the barley harvest, Naomi,” said Ruth. “If I gather leftover grain, we can make bread to eat.” So Ruth got permission to pick up grain missed by the harvesters.
A man named Boaz owned the field and wondered who she was. “She came back with old Naomi,” said his foreman. “All day long, she has worked hard.”
Boaz called Ruth to him and said, “Gather as much grain as you need, and my workers will watch for you.”
“You are very kind to a foreigner,” she said.
“You helped my relative Naomi,” said Boaz. “May God bless and reward you for your kindness.”
God did bless Ruth. In time she and Boaz became friends. Boaz shared food, and helped her whenever he could.
One night, Naomi told Ruth to go to the threshing floor whew Boaz was sleeping.She told Ruth to wait for him there. When Boaz awoke he was surprised to see Ruth. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Naomi has sent me,” said Ruth. “Since you are her nearest relative, I have come to ask you to care for us.”
“God bless you,” said Boaz. “And don’t be afraid, for I will take care of you.”
Naomi rejoiced when Ruth and Boaz got married. And Ruth became the great-grandmother of the great King David!
A Life of Significance
A wonderful change had taken place in Ruth’s life even more so than she knew at the time. When she left Moab with her mother-in-law, Ruth may have thought she was doomed to a life of poverty and obscurity. But because of the LORD’s goodness to her, she became the great-grandmother of David, from whose family Jesus Christ was eventually born.
No matter how grim things may seem right now, we can find comfort in knowing that God is our Saviour.
February 4th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Executive decisions, not youthfulness, determine experience
Remember Allen Dulles 1893-1969, CIA’s 1st civilian/longest-serving director 1953-1961,
who was overriden by JFK 1917-1963 [young like Obama born 1961 (yes, same date as
Bay of Pigs fiasco)] via JFK’s logistic mistake of launching at Bay of Pigs instead of
at Trinidad Cuba [JFK desired "plausible denial" of U.S. involvement via Bay of Pigs--
political decision-- which ruined the military operation], after which Dulles was forced
to resign, even though JFK ruined the invasion. Which resulted in Castro getting
Russia’s nuclear warheads to thwart what would be the later chastened/more
experienced JFK [to attack Cuba again]. So JFK actually caused the nuclear standoff
in ‘62 b/n U.S./Russia. Which showed JFK’s now seasoned mettle. Obama has not
been tested. “We shall see.” George Bush now has ruined us in Iraq [Shinseki said
to occupy, not just liberate, to ensure political stability], via political [not military]
dilettante [no solid game plan], an Allen Dulles he is not [older brother John was
Ike's Sec. of State -- John was Cold War political zealot a la today's Bush/not
sensible like Allen][coincidentally, Watergate's E. Howard Hunt 1918-2007 was
Allen's positive/realistic Cuba operative]. “Get a handle on a lot of things” –
you can have top schooling but be “wakaranai”/clueless a la George Bush today.
Executive decisionmaking — JFK sorely learned it [the hard way]. Young Bill Clinton
born 1946 did not foresee Osama’s potential until it was too late. Extremists exploit
conflict/strife, but they’ll be wary of Hillary if she becomes President, who won’t
soft-peddle like hubby Bill did before. McCain’s dad & grandpa were the 1st
4 Star Admiral father-son duo [McCain's dad commanded during Vietnam War].
Ironically, McCain born 1936 may be seen as too old for President [Reagan 1911-
2004 was old like McCain]. McCain’s Irish spunk kept him alive as POW, it will
be his undoing in his run for President. [written before 2008 election] –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Quips/relationships
Frank Atherton’s dad Joseph Ballard Atherton 1837-1903, C & C President
1894-1903, withdrew all of C & C’s funds to start Bank of Hawaii
in 1897 after Bishop Bank turned down C & C’s loan request, based
on Ewa Mill’s fledgling operations [which conservative Joseph Ballard
Atherton initially had opposed starting up vs. daredevil James B. Castle,
brother of internationalist William R. Castle]. Thence, Frank Atherton
1878-1945 knew what it was like to be the “underdog.”
American Savings Bank originally was Mormon, w/Chinese American
Security & Liberty Banks servicing the 15% demographic. Of course,
1st Hawn/Bank of Hawaii serviced the Big 5, who controlled 90% of
all capital assets. The 40% demographic buddaheads started up
CPB to service them.
CC Kennedy’s baby brother James founded Interisland Steamship Co.
Son Stan Kennedy founded Hawaiian Airlines in 1929, which preceded Pan-Am’s
Baby Clipper to Hawai`i in 1936. Stan was inspired by Lindbergh’s 1927
odyssey.
–Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Utilitarianism — the greatest good for the greatest number of people
Hawai`i territorial era/Big 5 oligarchy-plantation system had no bourgeois/middle
class, which is how aristocrats monopolized vassal-locked life. But when native-
born kids of immigrants wielded voting power post-WWII, the pendulum swung
toward the have-nots. Statehood/Cold War military buildup here/tourism via
fast-affordable jetliners — all spiked our unmatched economic growth. Yet,
Tom Gill/Toshi Serizawa/Scrub Tanaka/Isamu Kanekuni never rode the
engine of prosperity 1959-1973 for self-advancement/material gain. To
their credit, because everyone in “Who’s Who” did, including solons from top to
bottom. Which is why we never had strong anti-speculation penalties. BTW,
Serizawa always respects Gill because Gill fought the Big 5. Yet, as
John Ushijima would say, “it’s our time to get a piece of the action.” What
happened to entrenched Dems who earlier milked the action [Trask/Heen]
was their displacement by co-optation of the underclass kids of immigrants
w/altruistic patriarchs like Atherton/Baldwin/Greenwell/Hind, the likes of
which you see w/English progenitors Disraeli/Victoria a century before.
Trask/Heen were into the action for themselves, not for others/proletariat.
Yes, imperious Ushijima became another Trask/Heen end result. Marxist/
Communist “benefit all thru the efforts of a few” realtime result kills such
fanciful Redtime illusion. Look at the former Soviet Union’s self-implosion.
On the other hand, no other State in our U.S. has applauded Hawai`i for
its semi-socialistic health care system [pre-paid health care act], advent
of its ilk & a wonderful compromise for employer operating expense tax
write-off. Ironically, land boom avarice avatar Najo Yoshinaga steered it
thru to make health care affordable for the average working joe.
I gotta applaud Methodist pastor Shigeo Tanabe, 101 yrs. old. Like
Saburo Hayashi/Shiro Sokabe/Kan Miyama/Jiro Okabe/Takie Okumura/
Yemyo Imamura/Zenkyo Komagata/Iga Mori/Koshiro Tofukuji, our
Shigeo was the selfless altruist who ministered to the teeming masses.
Shigeo rips away the pattern of pain to demonstrate Jesus standing w/arms
outstretched & giving the only healing possibility from His Hands. “He
never forsakes those who suffer, and He never stops loving, come what
may.” –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
First AJA powerful Democrat Takaichi Miyamoto 1897-1981
Maui-born Taka became a Dem Party devotee of Kanaka Johnny Wilson in 1916. Astute/most popular-ever politico
Johnny Wilson was our 1st true pollster, & Johnny recognized the growing AJA vote thruout the 1930s/1940s.
Nisei Taka did not benefit more off being Wilson’s closest advisor/kitchen cabinet head [incl. members K.T. Ho
(no relation to Chinn Ho)/Herb Kum] than Wilson did off garnering AJA votes via Taka, contrary to Coffman’s
popular dictum of opportunist Taka piggybacking on Wilson for self-gain/avarice. Ridiculous. Look at earliest
Dems Manuel Pacheco/Henry Freitas, at Hilo scouts Gus Supe Sr./Dr. Ernest Mitsuo Kuwahara, even at living
museum relic Richard Imai born 1910, mind still razor-sharp. Taka Miyamoto selflessly sacrificed his whole estate
to achieve social progress for the common lot. Of course, by Wilson’s final mayoral tenure post-WWII, Taka was
Wilson’s ibaru/overproud Rasputin/autocrat. In spite of Taka’s unchecked power/authority, Taka still aided rank/file
struggling labor, even being ostracized/shunned/stigmatized by his fellow Buddhists/Betsuin for being a Communist
sympathizer a la kneejerk extremist/radical militant Koji Ariyoshi [no relation to conceited George]. But unlike
Taka’s Buddhist conservatives, Taka sought to do more than simply save souls — he went on a mission to solve
life’s most vexing social problems/riddles. This was the magnanimous/altruist Taka. Look at Hochi’s Fred
Kinzaburo Makino — Makino salted away his wealth from his consultant fees & did not put his personal fortune on
the line for his so-called holy grail/Hochi newspaper. Do you know that FBI’s Bob Shivers often visited Makino at
Makino’s home WWII to get a feel/pulse for the Issei mentality? Shivers should’ve sprung assimilationist/utterly
magnanimous peacemaker Yasutaro Soga [Nippu Jiji publisher/editor] from internment to get an accurate feel
for buddahead mentality! Shivers had it in reverse about Soga’s patriotism vs. Makino’s repudiatory personality.
If Shivers were gonna lock up Soga, Shivers might as well have locked up great Americanized assimilationist Takie
Okamura! Reverse mentality re: Makino, who just happened to be half-English [as in England]. Yes, Makino
refuted customary Nippon protocol [consulate/visiting Japan dignitaries], so in effect Makino’s A-hole personality
saved his skin, which helped by being han/hapa-haole. Thence, Makino/Hilo’s Kiyo Okubo covered themselves
well by playing the FBI’s game of hide/seek. Takaichi Miyamoto was a much greater man than Fred Makino, despite
Makino’s Japanese language school win 1927. Miyamoto would rile today over U.S.’ Blackwater mercenary
“skullduggery” via comity b/n U.S./Iraq, which reprises oldtime extraterritoriality [immunity from Iraqi prosecution
for crimes committed in Iraq][the so-called foil of American superiority vs. backward Iraq]. Miyamoto was not
interned despite his vehement protests over U.S. confiscation of Buddhist properties WWII [Miyamoto a devout
Buddhist], though Miyamoto had his suitcase packed in case he was shipped out to internment. Did you hear
customary loud/urusai noise out of “militant” Makino/Okubo? Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
What shall it profit a man if he gains the world but loses his soul?
Yes, Matthew 16:26. Wiser than the ancients you so be, thy enemies make peace with you
Psalms 119: 100, 98. Yes, Ecclesiastes, all things under the sun, of this earth, are fleeting,
so Song of Solomon brings Solomon’s Ecclesiastes into proper perspective — love thy Lord w/all
your heart, soul, & mind, & you will find peace everlasting.
True, charitable foundations are great tax writeoffs for their sponsors [offset/erase the tax w/
donation/gift], great PR/publicity for their sponsors [Rockefeller/Carnegie/Ford/etc.], but
nonetheless serve as vehicles to limit government bailouts/bankrolling of the focus groups
benefited by the foundations, & encourage full reporting of income/capital gain [reward
the sponsors via PR charity namesakes -- ergo, Rockefeller Foundation/etc.]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
“A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART”
1 Samuel 13:13-14
INTRODUCTION
1. In Paul’s sermon at Antioch, in which he briefly recounts the
history of Israel, he refers to the statement made by God concerning
David:
“I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who
will do all My will.” – Ac 13:22 (cf. 1Sa 13:13-14)
2. This beautiful compliment, “a man after My own heart”, is one that
should characterize every person who wears the name of Christ
a. For David was not only the ancestor of Christ according to the
flesh…
b. But he possessed many of the attitudes that:
1) Were later perfected by Christ
2) Should characterize all those who are disciples of Christ
February 4th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Race — eternal flashpoint
Nisei dentist Dr. Masao Kubo is our AJA rosetta stone to the all-haole Hilo Yacht Club. He got in
because his wife was haole. Hochi publisher Fred Makino was not interned because he was
half-English. His rival, Nippu Jiji’s great internationalist/assimilationist, pure blood Yasutaro Soga,
was interned. Geez.
Congress enacted the 1946 Recission Act which denied PI war veterans the same benefits
accorded U.S. military veterans. PI’s Jose Calugas is MoH WWII. Shouldn’t we think about
them as much as they thought about us?
Maui solon Toshi Ansai was GOP because his employer was Big Five’s A & B [Toshi was at
`Ulupalakua Ranch]. Yes, job determined the party affiliation. Ansai was very grassroots,
because A & B was openly benevolent. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Harvey Tajiri ‘62 Hilo High jock/Roland Higashi ‘58 Hilo High jock
Baseballer Harvey is the Vulcan booster club genesis, could not lord over Vulcan AD McNally, &
thus disbanded his outfit. Harvey is mercantile [fish market/auto body/insurance/etc.],
always mixed well w/GOP’s Richard Scotch Henderson, but crossed the line when Harvey turned
GOP, in Roland’s opinion [Roland a diehard Dem]. Harvey is a B.Ed. UH Manoa ‘67 grad. Harvey
does not run around in the same crowd as Roland. Actually, Roland is a recluse/introvert, which
is why Roland fits well w/yakamashii/noisebox but successful atty/former solon Stan Roehrig.
Jimmy Arakaki & Lorraine Rodero Inouye are ‘58 Hilo High like Roland, but Jimmy gets along well
w/everyone, including Roland/Tajiri. Lorraine does not click w/Roland-Jimmy. They are
businessmen, she is ILWU mentality. Roland is close w/Steve Yamashiro. Lorraine vs. Steve
typifies Lorraine. No question about it, Steve Yamashiro, albeit tyrant Steve, straightened out
our County finances. Civil Defense shogun Kim mushed into a please love me, I love myself
the most! mayor. Apples/oranges, Steve set straight our pursestrings. Harry imbues public
trust. Harry basks in natural disasters [Madame Pele/etc.]. Harry got big headed
by trouncing Yagong for mayor ‘04. Yagong is formidable, just not against self-titillating Kim.
If Yagong runs for mayor, he wins w/Kona’s clout.
Yagong is a do-er like Yamashiro, despite Yagong’s political tyranny.
Want Napoleon incarnate? Try Yagong. Match/fit. Aaron chose not to run for mayor because
Aaron is raising young toddlers. Aaron says that Kim got thick skin & is more suited for mayor
than Aaron [councilman Keaukaha 1996-2004 term limit]. Aaron says that Kenoi has the
personality/magic [young/handsome/pizzaz], but Kenoi needs to road map Kenoi’s vision, if any,
for Hawai`i County. Aaron says that Arakaki evolved into a consensus-builder councilman,
& that neither Arakaki nor Yamashiro ever bullied/strong-armed Aaron. Aaron sees Pilago as
a neophyte solon & Kona-regional focused, not diverse/broad-brushed like Lorraine. Aaron
says that Yagong is not suitable for a title of Mr. Good Sport. But Yagong wins hands down
title of greatest-ever self-promoter!
Tough-as-nails footballer Roland is a stoic erudite SF 49er Walsh type. Roland grew beyond
jockdom in 1970 while following Roland’s alter ego George Ariyoshi [genesis of
local ecosystem/land preservation via government acquisition (Waiahole-Wai Kane's 600 acres
acquired by State for $6 million to preserve ag use/farmers)], a frugal budgeter/fiscal
conservative except for sustainable environmental policies. George became Roland’s
template/foundation for responsible land use planning. Ironically, developer Roland always
faces profit vs. preservation in Roland’s work. But thanks to George’s mentorship, Roland
does not run wild like a Nippon Kawamoto. But thankfully unlike George, Roland does not
shibai to being a puritan/blowhard master role model to emulate. George is so full of himself,
just like George’s social climber wife Jean. Roland’s wife Jan, on the other hand, is a grounded/
steeled pragmatic do-er a la esteemed solons Sam Mahuka Spencer/Harry K. Brown, longest-
serving GOPs. To me, Jan is the force behind self-effacing/patron saint Roland. They are
soulmates/indelibly one. I do not see such union/merger in most marriages. Amazing
confluence. I liken Roland & Jan to Abe Lincoln’s idol Henry Clay, great abolitionist, & to
Harry Truman’s idol Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory [participatory democracy down to the common
lot/peasant], yamato damashii/fighting spirit all!! Exceptional heart/passion/mission!!
Remember Wahiawa’s Antonio Taguba, braveheart brass who got canned by Pres. Bush for
Pinoy Tony’s honesty re Abu Ghraib? Man, this is courage! BTW, Tony is the 2nd Pinoy
Army general, after Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano [former Ft. Lewis Wash. head where Watada
is].
Like Old Hickory, Roland is not a college man. Roland is a self-made man,
a frontiersman who forged Roland’s vision/universe from responsible planning/objectives/goals
a la Roland’s guru George Ariyoshi. I can’t stomach George, but I respect Roland. Jan is
Pa`auilo Kimura kazoku/family, ‘62 Honoka`a grad like Julie Miranda Tulang. Jan is a good/sweet
gal.
–Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Do you know that Uncle Mikey’s owner Keoki Kai born 1965 turned down “Girls Gone Wild” caper at Keoki’s club?? Because to Keoki, such antic denigrates women. Keoki says that Keoki’s mother/sisters deserve respect as women. Kudos to Keoki, who turned down big money because Keoki respects women!! Love always, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Man alive, Keoki Kai gets let down by police who’re afraid to break up fracas at Uncle Mikey’s, Keoki tries to intervene to diffuse fracas, Keoki finds himself as victim of lack of police intervention, then finds himself in court to answer to DA, so he sues to rectify the wrong done vs. him, among other things, and gets retaliation by the County agencies for him suing the County — bldg./fire depts./etc. among other things. Yikes! –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Postliminium/equal provision/Dr. Ruth Oda
1. Roman Postliminium means to restore a conquered people to their original state to ensure
self-worth/equanimity. You see this w/MacArthur’s restoration of actual war criminal
Hirohito to the imperial throne. Master stroke of genius.
2. Henry Noa’s postliminium rests on Hawai`i not being part of the U.S. even after
annexation. Yet Hawaiian sovereignty pundit Jon Van Dyke argues that the
U.S. has exercised sovereignty over Hawai`i. See scribe Alan McNarie’s article
in HIJ titled Akaka vs. Kanaka, where Akaka backers Van Dyke/etc. promote secession/
independence thru Congress. Congress does not have the power of secession. It has
the power of oversight re Indian tribes/Alaska Eskimos, not secession. Henry Noa does
not use this to enable his separatism, instead closing that he will not sit down w/the
thief who stole his Nation.
3. Equal provision refers to grassroots/participatory democracy in which we voted
overwhelmingly to become a State in 1959. Noa does not recognize such equal
provision, chastening that to do so is to sit down w/the robber or his confederates.
4. Digress here — on a Hilo note, compassionate pediatrician Dr. Ruth Oda
was ceremoniously feted on the opening of the new Lincoln Park playground
named for her. It is deserved, though w/irony tinged to no end. Ruth was
reared matriarchly [dad was stern salesman/always wore white shirt-bow tie] — Ruth
never had anything to do w/Lincoln Park or its Wrecker org [philanthropist Kimo
Henderson & son Sonny/Froggie Yoneda/Sambo Saito], though Ruth lived upstairs on
the corner of Kilauea/Ponahawai Sts. Raised by her divorced mama, Ruth was never
into outdoor activities. When Ruth started her medical practice makai of Lincoln Park,
she would always complain [rightfully] of the Wrecker baseballs lofting dangerously onto
her office grounds. Unquestionably, Ruth had no love for the Wreckers, who were
the angels of the block [started by great educator/altruist Ernest B. De Silva as outlet
via barefoot football, Ernest being the genesis in Hilo/Dept. of Recreation instructor].
Till this day, steeped Wrecker originals Feet Shikuma/etc. fume at the thought of Ruth’s
name being associated with Lincoln Park. Yet another twist: Ruth’s schooling benefactor
was musician Rod Wong’s grandma, who owned WongKit Bar on the ground floor of
Ruth’s apt. bldg. Rod is married to Wrecker oyabun/godfather Froggie Yoneda’s daughter
Tish. Incongruous links abound! BTW, Ruth later took care of her aging dad, finding
him comfortable quarters/etc. Who are these people pictured in today’s Trib to honor
their kin Ruth at Lincoln Park? Did they ever set foot in Lincoln Park before? Feet
must be burning. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Punahou’s 10% Asian racial quota limit 1896-1966
Punahou School Prexy John Fox 1944-1968 helped remove the nefarious Asian quota which
began because of alumni fears about the Asian invasion [Chinese in 1896, then AJAs in 1906].
As w/every ethnic group, the missionaries/progeny had the exclusionists [Thurston/etc.] &
the inclusionists [Atherton/etc.]. The monied Merchant St. monopolists lorded over enrollment
quotas until relenting amid the Civil Rights era 1960s. By then, race was odious/assimilation
discarded fear. Twigg-Smith even endorsed Inouye over Dillingham in the ‘62 U.S. Senate
race [thanks to HA's nerve center/humanitarian George Chaplin]. Yes, this is how far
acceptance had come via a near-century’s
buildup of exposure/understanding/appreciation/trust. Hanahauoli
Elem. off Makiki
was a feeder school for Punahou [started by Cookes], but because
of Punahou School’s
10% Asian racial quota, Stuart Ho [Chinn Ho's son] was not able to to get into
Punahou [went to `Iolani, then later got in to Punahou]. Malie, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Chinese Liberty Bank’s KT Ho the 1st Chinese backer of Johnny Wilson 1920s
Chinese are individualists/lone rangers, which makes KT Ho’s digression very special. A reformist
for the common lot/little guy, Liberty Bank’s Ho is the first visible Chinese Democrat [not kin to
financier Chinn Ho]. Chinese social worker Dem Herb Kum emerged 20 yrs. after Ho, &
enlisted 3rd generation Hawai`i Chinese. Luso/Portuguese Henry Freitas was a 1920s backer
of Dem Johnny Wilson, 20 yrs. after fellow Luso Manuel Pacheco. Honolulu’s 1st mayor 1909
JJ Fern was Luso friend & facilitated Luso solons like Manuel Pacheco. Do you know that auspicious
clergyman Frank Chong is named in honor of Big Five philanthropist Frank Atherton? Yes,
Chong’s middle name is Atherton. Castle & Cooke’s Atherton’s compassion suffused afar!!
Atherton sponsored Frank’s pastor Dad Kim On Chong into the ministry [Atherton is missionary
Congregational]. Frank was born just before Atherton died in 1945. Likewise, Atherton
Richards sponsored Kim Nan Chong’s [Kim On's brother] son Anson Chong to Punahou. Anson
became a solon/economist/community leader. Yes, Larry Price is part-Luso, but you gotta
feel bad for Larry, not to scorn/humiliate Larry, because Larry’s personal issue of self-worth
overcomes him. Look at Larry’s enmity vs. hoopster Ah Chew Goo, NY Times’ template for
Pistol Pete Maravich nearly half a century later. Ah Chew edifies the 1st/original sports hall of
fame, which Larry suppressed via Larry’s current hall of fame. But I told Larry that I respect
Larry, but I’ll still fight to endorse/promote Ah Chew’s deserved recognition in
Larry’s current hall of fame. Pololei, as the river runs.
Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Star-Bulletin editorial on Statehood based on military necessity 3/23/07
Not true. America had Hawai`i secured, regardless of Statehood. Do you know that Army Gen.
John M. Schofield, who served under Gen. Sherman in the Civil War, visited Hawai`i in 1872 &
became the leading proponent of Hawai`i as a strategic military outpost? Upon annexation in
1898, Ft. McKinley was established at Waikiki, followed by Ft. Shafter in 1905 [named after
Gen. William R. Shafter, who led American troops in Cuba in the Spanish American War]. Yes,
in 1908, the military post on the Leilehua Plains was named for Gen. Schofield. Today’s
Schofield Barracks, home of the 25th Infantry Div. [originally segregated Popolo unit], is the
largest of all overseas U.S. Army posts.
The U.S. Marines used Pearl Harbor since 1814, but it was not until 1904 that Marines were
regularly stationed here. Military air power came here from flight strategy’s inception, 1917.
Clearly, Pearl Harbor’s value was obvious via Congress’ earmarking monies in 1900 to dredge
its channel. And there you have it, Hawai`i as the bastion of defense. Statehood did not
hinge on this at all. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Guru philosopher Bento Spinoza is Luso 1632-1677
Do you know that icon Baruch Bento Spinoza is Luso/Portuguese? Beatle George Harrison
expressed Harrison’s pantheism [Deity/God is the universe] before he died, which pretty
much reduxes rationalist Spinoza’s view [though Harrison didn't realize this]. Like Spinoza’s
deism, Einstein’s Deity does not intercede, but just is here & envelops us all in its beauty/natural
order of things. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Roger Williams’ separation of church and state
Hilo pastor Richard Uejo’s hero is Roger Williams, early Puritan/proponent of religious freedom
[keep the State off the backs of religious faithfuls -- end State censorship]. Our later Founding
Fathers clearly remembered Williams’ refrain. To prevent government interference in religious
affairs, our First Amendment’s precept is two-fold: Government shall not establish religion nor
prohibit it. Roger Williams, though saddled w/personal issues [despotic/bonehead], is the
holy grail for our religious liberty here in America. Similarly, Puritan progeny — the
Congregationalists, espouse racial liberty/equality, manifested via Williams’ respectful relations
w/Native Indians over 2 centuries before our Civil War over slavery. The stigma of later
progeny resulted from the Protestant work ethic/avarice-power — thrift/hoarding profits-resources
cannibalize/exacerbate the social underclass. With these social ills come do-or-die lotteries
which tax the hard-pressed taxpayers. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Mo’oheau Park bandstand
Named after Chief Mo’oheau, whose ancestor Chief Ho’olulu [for which
Ho'olulu Park is named] owned much land in Hilo, & Ho’olulu is said to have
hidden the bones of Kamehameha the Great near Kaloko, Kona. The
Mo’oheau bandstand was completed in 1905, and used both for the
County band & as a schoolroom [Hilo didn't have enough schoolrooms
a century ago]. The bandstand was upgraded in 1988, after serving
as the focal point for the “Party of the Unwashed,” the new-fangled
militant Democratic Party, 1954-1988, which was prevented from using
the Hilo Armory, bastion of the GOP/military headquarters pre-Statehood.
–Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Akira Kurosawa — going home
Kurosawa’s father belittled him for being a sissy artist, not the samurai
that the father/brother were. Yet, amid failure/rejection in little boy
Akira’s heart, Akira goes on to ennoble the samurai as no one else
has ever done to date!! Never marginalize a measured/contemplative
little child. Never. Kurosawa comes alive! Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
JACL’s hypocricy
Sovereign immunity vests in the legislative branch of government,
not in an ethnic group like Hawaiian or in OHA. Only in insular/
secluded tribal enclaves is any residue evident of sovereign immunity
[& not even then, inasmuch only Congress/legislative body has the
power to confer/remove such immunity]. That JACL argues that ceded
lands are owned by Hawaiians/OHA on behalf of Hawaiians means that
ethnic superiority trumps over precedent [only recognized tribes are
given quasi-immunity]. Does JACL recognize that racial superiority is
what plagues AJAs [Japs as master race], that AJAs’ guilt complex over
repressing Haw’ns doesn’t remove precedent that sovereign immunity
vests in gov’t of the people/by the people/for the people, & not in
ethnic Haw’ns or OHA?? Self-inflicted guilt of JACL does not remove
precedent. JACL ostracizes its founding father Mike Masaoka, that Mike
was a scheming collaborator w/despotic WWII internment camp overlords.
Not true, albeit Mike’s “they call me Moses” egomania had as much to do
w/Mike’s repulsive nature, not his salient societal goal/assimilation-
Americanization. And yet, it is JACL itself today that collaborates w/racial
supremacists like Trask/OHA/Osorio, who mask “it’s all about money” under
the guise of “justice for Haw’ns.” Greed/avarice are what JACL is duped by.
So is our AJA Hawaii Herald, tragically an unwitting organ of deception by
racist Haw’ns. The joke is on JACL, reminiscent of Nazi collaborators who were
too afraid to stand up to tyranny. Yes, JACL, you are the Vichy in your mirror. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Issei/immigrant Japanese hero Joseph B. Lightfoot
Gang, it’s about ethnic affinity. Englishman Lightfoot comes to the Big
Island in 1886 at age 22 to teach school, then moves to O`ahu to
teach, then becomes naturalized U.S. citizen 1900, then passes the
bar exam in 1905 at age 41, then practices law w/fellow WASP Joe
Poindexter, who earlier practiced law in Montana, native of Oregon,
both Joes up for U.S. Dist. Ct. judgeship, w/Poindexter being appointed
1917. Lightfoot’s son Bert later partners law w/dad Joe. Progeny
Charles Joseph Lightfoot KIA Navy WWII 1944. Joe Lightfoot enables
fellow Englishman Fred Kinzaburo Makino [Fred's dad wealthy English
merchant in Japan, married Nippon native] in everything, incl. Fred’s
lucrative de facto law practice, & incl. Fred’s bust-out of imprisonment
in 1909 sugar strike/1917 immigration issues/1922 language school case
won by Makino in U.S. S.Ct. Englishmen stick up for each other,
just as Scots/Irish/name them, everyone sticks up for his/her
ethnic group. Dem Party Poindexter gets FDR appointment as
Territorial Governor 1934-1942 [retired old age/WWII]. Dem Stainback
of Tennessee took over, appointing all GOPs to patronage posts.
Stainback kicked out by Jack Burns in 1952, Oren Long is
appointed by Truman, & Stainback moves up to S.Ct. CJ
as consolation prize. Joe Lightfoot’s renowned England
iconic Anglican namesake big help for Joe vs. Big 5
oligarchy, who looked down at King-does-no-wrong
ancient repressive England native [Big 5 nouveau
upstarts/Yankees except for Welsh Davies]. Ethnic
affinity the key to all power relationships. Maine
mafia refer to New England missionaries who
became cogs in Big 5 [godfather C & C/Maui
A & B]. BTW, Joe Lightfoot regarded J_ps/
buddaheads as 2nd class wanna-bees. English
snobbery. But because Lightfoot not part of
original Big 5 aristocracy, Lightfoot had axe
to grind vs. elitists. Like how non-Big 5 Tom
Gill dismissed J_ps/buddaheads as American
wanna-bees but had axe to grind vs. uppity
Merchant St. elitists. Yikes!! We’re all
ambivalent, baby!! Love everlasting, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Pacific Tsunami Museum exhibit on Indonesian earthquake/tsunami 2004
Great learning center — thanks to leader Donna Saiki/scientist Walt
Dudley/curator Barbara Muffler. The Indonesian tsunami was cataclysmic
because its earthquake fault zone cracked a much longer swath than
others in recorded history. Thence its mega-energy/power unleashed.
This morning’s Trib front-page photos of Thailand’s Buddha beach before
the tsunami & during the tsunami show 15 ft. water height less than half
that which scoured Shinmachi in 1960, 35 feet. Buddha beach’s undulating
bore [wave front] resembled a surf wave, not so in Shinmachi [wall of water].
The daytime visible 1946 tsunami had water height of 30 feet when it hit
Shinmachi. I took measurements of the 1946 & 1960 Shinmachi tsunamis
using the tsunami photos of the utter devastation below wave height of
today’s still existent Hilo Iron Works factory bldg. I used measure rod
against the former front walls/side factory doors. The 1960 tsunami had
utter scouring/annihilation up to 20 ft. above sea level. The 1946 tsunami
had such scouring up to 15 ft. above sea level. Of course, only the Hilo
Iron Works factory bldg. could’ve withstood such impact. Yet, its heavy
vertical steel posts bent from the wave shear. I can go on & on about
the unbelievable things that happened w/n the factory [dozer chained to
the floor ended up in Wailoa river 1960]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Self-aggrandizement
David was rich but godly in his heart/altruistic. JP Morgan’s whiz kids
concocted CDS/credit default swaps 1994 to divvy up profits over
hedge funds/derivatives [worthless paper], that fall like a house of
cards. Pride/schooling — greed/stature — it’s not money that’s the
root of all evil — it’s pinnacle love of money/ego that are the root
of all evil. Prideful self-aggrandizement — buzzwords, “I was thinking
to myself that … [I'll feel good about building statues to myself ergo
501(c)(3) foundation].” Or “No, no, no, I would never condone or
tolerate such [criminal][sinful] behavior!” [never mind that such
egocentric judge of others doesn't judge himself in the mirror]. Nathan
was a great prophet who straightened out David by showing who
David really was by looking at himself/David & judging himself by how
he judges others. Which is why prophets are not welcomed in their
own countries/lands — because they give you the honest Truth.
Self-aggrandizers own distinct markers — whatever they think/
talk about, always come back to words like “I come to the conclusion
that …” or “Now, this is what I envision …” The “eyes” have it, the
nays always lose [because it's always about I/I/I, never about
acknowledging/recognizing others over whom you have no vested
interest in ["I want to name my philanthropy/foundation after my
..." -- my/my/my]. Self-aggrandizers wholly focus on themselves/
their vested interests. Never do they even give a moment’s thought/
empathy toward those/things they have no claim/credit to [George
Ariyoshi flaunts his mastery of himself in business mags/never do
you see him acknowledge those who chastened him to be real/
authentic instead of his phony self -- naysayers like John Hulten/
Kaz Abe/Elmer Cravalho]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
PLO/Arafat & Judeo-Christian roots
Scholar Dean Edmoundson born 1946 says that God’s covenant w/Abraham
[I bless those who bless you/I curse those who curse you][God's chosen ones]
roots New Testament Christians to Old Testament Jews. Judeo-Christian roots
are inseparable, per Dean Edmoundson. Which is why Pentecostal Dean [founded
in revivalists Charles Finney 1792-1875/Dwight L. Moody 1837-1899/Ira D. Sankey
1840-1908] can no more distance himself from a Louis Goldblatt [1910-1983 ILWU
brainchild] than from a Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758 [fire-brimstone's Great
Awakening 1734]. Dean had the oddest acquaintances — childhood peer
Gerald Brown was a quick-trigger/hot-tempered brute. Yet, when Dean taught
Gerald’s son in public school, Gerald’s son told Dean, “My Daddy said to listen
and learn from you, not to disobey you, ’cause he has the highest respect for
you as a man of God.” Wow, heartstopper!! Although Dean’s mom Bertha
is Dean’s biggest inspiration, Dean says that mothers are not “tefloned” from
God’s Word, ergo, Books of King have several references to mothers. Dean
was discouraged by Jimmy Carter’s discourse w/PLO-Arafat org, in that Dean
feels that U.S. is beholden by Abrahamic covenant to protect Jews/Israel.
Not that Carter is a peacemaker, but that Carter thinks too highly of himself,
over the best interests of Israel. Dean does not advocate a theocracy, but
says that government should not interfere w/religion. But on Israel, Dean
says that it’s not theocracy to find cultural/heritage beginnings in Israel, it’s
our genesis [just as our Constitution roots in Old Tesament 10
Commandments] — just as it’s patriotic/secular, not religious, that our currency
emblems In God we Trust. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Focus
Oroku/Okinawan Charles Higa aka Zippy’s Restaurants opened 1966,
prices very expensive now $8 low end per plate, won’t pass on legacy
to 3rd generation/sansei, inasmuch 3rd patriarch’s wife died, & sansei
correctly doesn’t make money his god. He wants to complete his destiny
after wife’s death & engage in philanthropy/charity mission. Per sansei son,
life is too short to be shallow/materialistic/Babel-like a la Doc Buyers.
Amazing self-actualization a la Jesus/Buddha/Muhammad, all of whom
self-actualized a generation earlier, all at age 30. The genesis 2nd generation
Higa entrepreneurs turned out an astonishing renaissance progeny/son.
In a symbolic way, Warren Buffett also is altruistic via his philanthropy [though
humongous tax write-offs are his primary motive]. Buffett’s investments still
anchor on property/casualty ins./re-ins. sales to other ins. cos. who insure vs.
major catastrophies. Bill Gates is an entrepreneur/owner [Microsoft], which is
why Gates has not bailed out Wall St. Gates not an investor like Buffett. Gates
tight-fisted/less patriotic/younger, typical me-me-me business mentality. Gates’
Microsoft got nailed vs. Sherman anti-trust act [settled out of court], so Gates
not an angel by nature. Gates’ health care foundation Gates’ biggest tax writeoff,
& Buffett’s foundation will merge into Gates’ foundation/philanthropy. Buffett a
generation older than Gates.
Luke was a physician/Gentile but grounded himself among the teeming masses &
began w/commoner Adam [understandable to vassal Gentiles], not Abraham as
Matthew did among the Chosen Jews. Thence, Luke is called the disciple of
mercy & forgiveness. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, & self-
actualized at backwater Galilee. But Jesus acknowledged that “no prophet is
accepted in his hometown.” [Luke 4:24] Which Luke illustrated via the good
Samaritan, a total stranger to a robbery/assault victim. A temple priest & a
later Levite passed by the victim & offered no assistance, but the Samaritan
stranger, dusk-hued/alien-foreign, bandaged the victim’s wounds & rehab-ed
him to recovery. Point is that Luke shows that your helper might be a foe
instead of your convenient/conventional neighbor. [Luke 10:29-37] In a
sense, we all are in no-man’s land in this fleshly life/existence. Rhetorically,
do we justify our being alive? Or just live for fleshly pleasure/social status?
Why, if anything, are we here? Love eternal, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Amazing astronomy/flight history
Imagine, we went from Newtonianism a century ago to
today’s Big Bang on the origin of our Universe, thanks
to Einstein. And aviation started w/my dad’s birth in
1913/WWI planes, accelerating to deep-space robotic
missions by the time Dad died in 1998. Unimaginable/
exponential leaps in science over the past century. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
AJAs benefitted most from public English Standard Schools/Catholic schools
AJAs Americanized via English Standard Schools
1927-1960, incl. Ted Tsukiyama [Roosevelt High],
& via Luso Catholic Schools, incl. Dick Mamiya
[St. Louis]. AJAs/Chinese made up the majority
of standard school enrollees WWII era/after.
Pat Fukuda Saiki is a Hilo/Riverside standard school
alumnus. Most AJAs in private schools enrolled
in Catholic schools–Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Limits on hard money donors better than no limits at all
Yes, Obama’s unique grassroot donors are not the usual suspects/
influence-money peddlers, but to reject limits on hard money donors
sets a minus trend once the usual suspects come back [Tony Rezco's
milieu]. KingLit Ching is both correct/realistic — after all, Obama has an
election to win — can’t be an egghead idealist/accept public financing
of Obama’s campaign because of “high principles.” –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Oddballs — treasures in an earthen vessel [Jekyll/Hyde in us all]
Mason/builder Richard Uejo born 1925 literally is a builder [Kaumana Baptist Church/Hilo Baptist Church],
though his enormous ego turns off all folks. Metaphorically, treasures [virtues] come in an earthen
vessel [vices]. Jesus reaches to our hearts, & gathers oddballs like Uejo to make up a dream team.
Look at unlearned Galileeans/fishermen like John the beloved-fka son of thunder-rage/Peter the talking
head-noisebox/Nathaniel the guileless-stoic/Simon the zealot/Matthew the publican/Paul the persecutor.
Disciples who became apostles — all orbiting around Jesus. Look at disheveled Yugo Okubo 1924-1987/
disharmonic Ron Fujiyoshi born 1940/talking head Jim Albertini born 1946/surfer Dexter Cate 1943-1990/
etc. Oddballs all. Beautiful diversity in Jesus’ eyes. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Herb Isonaga 1921-2009 VVV/Richard Chinen our divine apostles 1919-1991
As Herb says in Franklin Odo’s extraordinary book “No Sword to Bury,” Herb is “troubled by
those who try to take too much individual or group credit for what he calls ‘the fortunes of
circumstance.’” Hung Wai Ching picked up unmatched altruist Richard Pablo Chinen &
Pablo’s Bethel St. boys [rough & tumble boxers Anki Hoshijo/Roy Nakamine/etc.] to even out
Ted Tsukiyama’s eggheads, Hung Wai ever the sociologist. Pablo was just what the doctor
ordered. Not surprisingly, Pablo went on to be sempai/mentor to the nascent 442, a valorous
war hero, & Hilo’s greatest community organizer [along w/ Walter Victor]. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Night & day — Spark Matsunaga 1916-1990/Dan Inouye born 1924
Yes, both helped create a new social order for Hawai`i, but Spark is from the pre-1920 AJA
birthdate generation [independent/expansive/inclusionist], whereas ruffian Inouye is from
the affordable public high school diploma genre [gang mentality-militant-one-track mind/
turf-conscious/ingrate]. Inouye/Gill 1922-2006 have more in common than Inouye/Spark –
Gill has no tact/patience — tried to upend Fong ‘64, which fueled Inouye to plot vs.
Fong ‘70 [team player Fong beat Gill at Gill's own game -- smash-mouth politics '64]
via Inouye’s advocacy of Heftel vs. Fong ‘70, which is why Fong refused to have
Inouye escort Fong down the aisle at Fong’s re-election investiture in Senate
chamber ‘70. Spark had tremendous equanimity/composure/team-first attitude vs.
stock punk Inouye, who dismissed 442 boys in Dan’s D.C. Capitol office, vs. Spark,
who gave 442 boys the red carpet treatment. Spark is jesus [healing/peace
institute], Inouye is diablo [staredown/armament]. Night/day. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Classy May Bradley Cook 1914-2008 R.I.P.
Thomas Lofty Cook [whose grandfather was gannen mono 1868 1st
Nippon immigrant Matsugoro Kuwada -- took last name as Matsu]
married classy/gorgeous/petite May Bradley, & together they had
a whole bunch of daughters, no sons. Lofty was our County
Chairman 1959-1962. May’s legacy is her tremendous earthy/down
home comfy personality/character. I sensed she was forgetful
toward the end of her life when Hawea Waiau corrected me when
I recited that May had told me
that May grew up on Kapiolani St. where today’s Seventh Day Adventist
Church is. When I re-asked May where May grew up, May told me
Pepe`ekeo, & not Hilo. May was very compassionate/open-minded/
indulgent — a super-wondrous person. And she was utterly devoted
to her husband & her keiki. To me, she was the greatest First Lady
[mayor's wife], no question about it in my mind. She may be gone,
but she’ll not be forgotten. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
GOP leader Brian Jordan born 1955
The sex harassment charge vs. Brian was thrown out, DOE gang job to
ruin Brian. Brian is his own worst enemy in that he is so brutally honest
that he shakes up the world. He needs to tone down his image, because
he really has a heart of gold. Brian is blessed w/tremendous life experience,
having grown up in D.C. as a fighting Irish Catholic Democrat. He quit
school [got his GED], & was a career military man, retiring as Master Sgt.
A/V technical support. He came here in 1987 while still in the military
& retired in 1994, after which he started his safety consulting firm/
taught ROTC at Waiakea High. Brian switched to Reagan GOP [limited
gov't/strong military] & lost 3 times for Puna House Rep. 2002-2006 –
to Hale twice, then to Hanohano. In my opinion, Brian is a winner because
he stands up for GOP creed of teaching one how to fish, instead of giving
fish to poor. Brian delivered the most GOP delegates to confab via 4th
District, yet Lingle banished him for
fabricated charge of not being a team player. Sam Aiona, Lingle’s patsy,
was run out for catering to megalomaniac Lingle & disenfranchising fellow
GOPs. Boxing czar Bobby’s Lee’s nephew Willes Lee is naivete sample
& unlikely to staunch Lingle’s despotism of her & only her as GOP leader,
to the exclusion of her whole GOP outfit. Brian recalls that when he
spoke out vs. oil companies, Lingle lamented & Brian never got oil company
campaign donation, a badge of honor for him. As Brian says, cannot
make chicken sh_t into chicken salad [Lingle is no good for GOP --
maniacal personality]. Brian’s epitaph — “He tried to do right.”
Harry Kim? Brian says that controlling personality Harry micromanaged
Troy Kindred out of CD job. To me, Troy is tremendous/superhuman.
Lingle/Harry — insecure kin. Brian is very special, a real catalyst
for societal improvement — on housing/education/health care.
To me, Brian personifies our oldtime GOP authenticity/compassion a
la Joe Farrington 1897-1954. Hiram Fong 1906-2004 beams down
w/approval/pride at honest/loving Brian. Lingle’s policy pro Linda
Smith is super-sweet, but cannot makeover “Linda-o-kalani/
Lili`uokaLingle” self-congratulatory queen of her throne. When
Awana exited, Lingle’s world fell apart. Look at Lingle’s HSTA/DOE
gaffe on drug tests/Turtle Bay absurdity [Superferry was
understandable choice, redeemable, no need to deflect attention].
Imagine, exponential reduction of GOP solons in Lingle’s era. Look
at the GOP rosters in the pre-Lingle 2002 era. Resonant/verdant
growth. Attrition like no other post-2002. Lingle a dissonant minus,
Joe Farrington a super unifier plus. Brian is my Farrington, but he
needs valorous souls like Merle Lam/Sharon De Mello Vannatta
[Gerald's wife's De Mello kin -- Gerald's wife Claudette unrelated
maiden name of De Mello to Gerald]
to tell the world how honest/loving Brian is. Love, –Curtis
February 4th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Kevin Jakahi & Bible’s Job
When Trib’s Kevin Jakahi was stricken w/leukemia, John Burnett was hired, upon
which Kevin, in Jobean magnanimity, exuded to John ["JB"], “Thank God they
[Trib] hired you, even if I had to go down [to see Trib] to make it happen!!”
JB forever will be grateful to Kevin for Kevin’s class sine qua non. Thanks, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Hoops legend/Hawai`i Trib sports editor Bill O’Rear
Bill is a member of coach Jimmy Yagi’s famed Vulcan Fever Five 30 yrs. ago.
What’s phenomenal about Bill is his grassroot approach to life/hoops. He never
gets too big for his britches, something Chuck Leahey was prone to [Jim's dad/
Kanoa's tutu]. Attribute Bill’s humility/compassion to his simple beginnings
Stateside, w/single Mom-hard tack survival milieu. I cannot praise enough
Bill’s magnanimity. It transcends hoops/sports. It’s about life/metaphysical
answers. Bill gives selflessly, & is of enormous encouragement to others.
What finer qualities can one ask for in another? Bill is simply amazing.
Do you believe in Bill? I believe in Bill. What Bill has over other
mythic coterie of coaches is Bill’s non-obsessed control over players/
the game. Like Yagi, Bill is balanced/introspective/contemplative. Bill
is the rarest guy I know who has no ego, as in I/me. Incredible/remarkable.
Assuredly, Bill’s legacy stands the test of time. Bill is my all-time
messiah/jesus.
Auld Lang Syne, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Revered former legislator Toshi Serizawa born 1916
Toshi is Spark Matsunaga’s confidant/peer, both born 1916, both reared on Kaua`i [though
Toshi was born in Hilo & came back to Hilo in 1955]. Toshi says that sempai/godfather Jack
Burns 1909-1975 is modern Hawai`i’s greatest historymaker, & Spark is No. 2 [unsung
leader who surpassed Dan Inouye in grassroot/rank-file legislation]. Like Scrub Tanaka/
Isamu Kanekuni, Dem spiritual avatars, Toshi disdains self-gain [a la wheeler dealers Dan
Inouye/Kazuhisa Abe/John Ushijima/Najo Yoshinaga -- Toshi knows John as monoshiri/
very difficult to reason w/ -- Najo as monoshiri/egomaniac]. The only knock vs. Toshi
[which also is his greatest strength] is Toshi’s stubbornness, marking him as an
independent, not a union doormat like Najo[ILWU] or Nel Doi[HSTA genre]. Toshi’s
legacy is his crusade for affordable higher education [incl. island community colleges].
Toshi dismisses Kaua`i Dem wayfinder JB Fernandes [born 1892] as a shallow
materialistic opportunist, & marginalizes developer Joe Pao 1916-1977/Joe’s 1st
cousin Jim Ferry born 1928 as materialistic self-seekers, no depth/service to
others-humanity. All 3 are Luso/Portuguese, but Toshi’s own progeny also are Luso.
Toshi is not a bigot. Toshi is my in-law [his daughter Mae is my 1st cousin Cliff's wife --
I lovingly tell Mae she's lucky to be Cliff's wife -- "Brother" Cliff is not as stubborn as
her Pop Toshi
... besides, Cliff is my favorite Cuz [I worship his quiet humility].
Actually, Toshi’s progeny are rainbow coalition [all chop suey races --Haw'n/haole/etc.].
My ex-wife Bernie is Honoka`a Luso. Buddaheads tend to be stuck-up [like negative
role models John Ushijima/Scotch Kurisu].
Toshi says that patience is the name of the game, the missing ingredient which resulted
in the self-destruction of Nel Doi/Jean King/Ed Case [though Ed can kickstart to
victory by being contrite/humble]. Actually, Toshi respects Tom Gill [who fought
the Big 5 Oligarchy/was supported by AFL-CIO, rival of ILWU-Teamsters], but knows that
Gill & Burns just were incompatible, like oil & water. Yes, audacity/daring-do leapfrog
in social progress a la FDR/Jack Burns, but timing/patience are everything, which were
absent in lone rangers Gill/Mink/Fasi/Andy Anderson/Najo/etc. Toshi regards Ariyoshi
basically as a decent man, but not the do-er/field general-master of Toshi’s
big hero Jack Burns. Burns took a personal interest in Toshi, just as a loving father
dotes on his son. In Toshi the genro/elder statesman Burns saw a mirror image of
himself as a younger & idealistic sojourner. Look at Burns’ “autobiography,” in which
Burns devotes a whole chapter to Toshi, akin to Sermon on the Mount [altruism/
devotion to others in need]. Yet Stanley Hara also was Burns’ confidant, but omitted
entirely in Burns’ “memoirs.” I’m certain why because Stan, like his alter ego Kazuhisa
Abe [who also is bereft of recognition], primarily was a land speculator, unlike
ascetic/austerity-afflicted Burns who, like Toshi, put the people/society ahead of
his own ambitions. Toshi respects Stanley because Stanley had to scrape/claw to
earn a living & support his family. Unlike Toshi [Hollywood-handsome/darling of PR
aficionados], cleft-lip Stanley started out a forgotten nobody [just another number/
joe blow]. Thanks, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
100th Batt. triggered VVV conversion to 442 RCT
Timeline:
1/19/42 ROTC dismissed/Hung Wai Ching exhorts [w/unfathomable risk to his own
family/career] 298th conscripts/ROTC boys to proclaim our right to fight for
America
2/15/42 AJA messiahs in D.C. Ellis Zacharias/Moses Pettigrew encouraged local
AJA backers Kendall Fielder/George Bicknell[who transferred to D.C.
at same time]/Cecil Coggins/Kenneth Ringle to ramrod AJAs’ right to
fight; brazen reverse psychology is the clarion call for the eventual
100th slogan “Remember Pearl Harbor” — later extolled by D.C. War Info
head Elmer Davis — awhilst Hung Wai Ching’s haunting remonstrance
to paranoic-stiff public, as he suffuses to his spiritual children/progeny
[298th conscripts/ROTC boys], “Turn the other cheek, & go the 2nd
mile” [Hung Wai Ching 1905-2002 was a born/star athlete & track &
field man, very tall & drop-dead handsome]
2/19/42 Executive Order 9066 starts mass internment Stateside
2/23/42 Gen. Emmons approves VVV[ROTC boys] labor battalion [thanks to
G-2/Army Intelligence's Kendall Fielder/George Bicknell, & to
irrepressible civilian avatar Hung Wai Ching [backed up by
Hung Wai's alter egos/mentors Charles Hemenway 1875-1947
& Frank Atherton 1878-1945]
4/26/42 Gen. Emmons calls for formation of infantry 100th Batt., thanks to
ONI’s[Naval Intelligence] Cecil Coggins/Kenneth Ringle [who
transferred to West Coast pre-Pearl Harbor attack], to 298th[100th]
guru/godfather Hung Wai Ching, & to Nisei civilian leaders Masaji
Marumoto/Jack Wakayama/Mas Katagiri/Ernie Murai/Baron Goto/
Bob Komenaka/Kats Kometani; at same time, Navy confidant/
contractor Walter Dillingham phones & asks FDR to avert mass
internment of buddaheads [Hawai`i Japanese Issei/nationals --
naturalization-U.S. citizenship not allowed until after 1952/AJAs],
witnessed by Jack Wakayama/Jack’s atty George Kawamoto
5/20/42 Gen. George Marshall secretly orders infantry use of 100th Batt., extolled
by John J. McCloy, who later said that he wanted his gravestone to be
carved w/epitaph “I supported the Nisei soldier,” his mental grief over
his internment authorization 3 months earlier utterly resonant still
6/5/42 100th Battalion ships out to Camp McCoy Wisconsin
12/17/42 After being convinced/catalyzed by Hung Wai Ching/VVV, McCloy gets FDR to
form 442nd RCT enlistees, which had been promoted 6 months earlier by
McCloy himself/Rufus Bratton/Milton Eisenhower[Ike's brother]/Edwin
Reischauer/Elmer Davis/Ellis Zacharias/Moses Pettigrew/George Bicknell.
Meanwhile, battle-ready 100th is sent to Camp Shelby Miss. while D.C. top
brass feud over hypocrisy of sending conscript 100th off to front lines while
their Japanese community is captive/interned behind barbed wire Stateside.
It will take another 9 months before General Marshall allows the 100th to
taste the crimson tide of war. The 442 enlistees ship out to Camp Shelby
in March 1943, & w/the electrifying precedent set by the 100th/Purple
Heart Batt. starting in Sept. 1943/European Theatre, the 442 marches
into the annals of history starting 6/26/44/front line. No question, the
unreal exploits of the 100th starting June 1942 led the way for D.C. top
brass to form the 442, followed by the sacrifices of the VVV/labor batt.
11/10/07 Music Hoku enshrinee John Cruz, whose mama is Hawaiian/Japanese, dad
is country vocalist Ernie Cruz, sister is jazz singer extraordinaire/former Miss
Hawai`i Desiree Cruz, has the depth to express “Among Hawaiian/local
families, sovereignty is kind of a heated issue — because the AJAs had
to prove themselves — 442nd, internment camps, all that — the general feeling
here was you don’t criticize the government at all. You had to have courage
[to criticize]. If there was any little hint of politics in a song, the radio
[industry] would just forget about you. There was a huge controversy
over the song ‘Waimanalo Blues’ done by Country Comfort, a bunch of
hippie stoners. They were rebels, but their music was popular. Just
those two little lines[lyrics] — ‘The beaches they sell … to build their hotels.’
There are no overt comments about these, but that was a controversial song.”
Man, oh man, what yamato damashii/giri ninjo/meiyo!! John’s biopic “Made
of Music: The John Cruz Story” debuted at the 2006 Hawai`i International
Film Festival, in which John openly speaks about his Hyde side/hard drug abuse.
He is clean now. Thank you, Peter Serafin/Hawai`i Island Journal, for your
tremendous upshot of magnanimous John Cruz [HIJ November 10-16, 2007
issue]
____________________________________________________________________
100th BATTALION QUERY:
Was there an agreement between General Marshall and General Emmons PRIOR to the 100th being shipped to Camp McCoy that they would be committed to combat? –from KL Ching
Do you know that in the hysteria of 12/7/41, G-2/Army Intelligence’s Kendall Fielder [who would
become AJAs' greatest ally] chastened to local police anti-spy head Jack Burns [our later
Governor][AJA oyabun/godfather/messiah], “If anything goes wrong, sabotage or anything like
that, we’ll try you for disobedience of orders!” Do you know that beneficent Waipahu sugar
plantation mgr. Hans L’Orange tried to protect his buddaheads from outside disruption by
preventing them from being approached by pro-Americanization zealots amid 12/7/41 hysteria,
at which point G-2/Army Intelligence’s Col. George Bicknell [who also would become AJAs'
greatest ally] told Burns that Bicknell wanted to have patriot L’Orange arrested, to which Burns
objected, & Burns then got the HSPA to get buddahead father figure L’Orange’s cooperation
to ensure full Americanization/refute fear/suspicion of espionage by buddahead laborers.
Do you know that 1st Sgt./later Sgt. Major Kotonk Roy Otani, whose acerbic mouth forced
Uncle Timmy/Teiichi Hirata [later DOE Superintendent] to switch from 442 rifleman to MIS/
interpreter, smart-lipped the adjutant general & was
stripped down to buck private?! Yikes!
Refrain Lincoln’s dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery, “These dead shall not have died
in vain; that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
4 Christians [Adenauer/Muggeridge/Colson/Nakasato]
Konrad Adenauer 1876-1967, vehement anti-Nazi who was imprisoned
for railing vs. Hitler, was a devout Catholic who led the coalition Christian
Dem Party & was the 1st W. German chancellor 1949-1963 & the oldest,
age 73 to 87 yrs. He said faith in God is humanity’s only good stable reference.
Malcolm Muggeridge 1903-1990 was agnostic British journalist who converted to
Catholicism late in life, saying that belief in God is humanity’s only hope for
peace. Chuck Colson born 1931 was Nixon’s hatchet man who was
sentenced for obstruction of justice & became a prison ministry leader, &
still does prison ministry a la St. Paul. Earl Nakasato born 1942 was told
by his old-style traditional Okinawan mother “no make shame” for the
family, being that Earl was a wild juvenile delinquent. He was told that
Hirohito was Shinto god to whom mama cannot look in Hiro’s eyes, cannot
stand in Hiro’s shadow, cannot converse with. Earl goes on to read about
the Rape of Nanking & cannot make sense of Hirohito’s dual nature — Shinto
god yet devil in disguise who flaunts J_p master race a la Hitler’s Aryan
super-race. Earl goes on to find solace in Jesus, who chastens that humanity
inherently is evil, & only salvation in Jesus can save humanity. Earl is a
born-again Christian today. On a secular level, Earl reduxes what catalyzed
Frank Arakawa, among oldest Nisei/2nd generation 1891-1977, who in the
speech of Arakawa’s lifetime, talked about having only one mother [country]
on Washington’s birthday 1915, & that Hawai’i-born Frank is beholden to
Frank’s Mother Liberty, not Mother Mikado [Japan's forced dual citizenship
on Hawai'i-born native AJAs, jus sanguinis -- ancestral nation-- not
universally recognized jus soli -- citizenship according to place of birth].
Earl obviously has only one mother [country], Mother Liberty, not Mother
Mikado. Earl’s old school mama instilled in Earl what were Nisei values/
indoctrination, though Earl is Sansei/3rd generation. Which is why country
bumpkin/Honomu forest lands’ Earl is different from other Sansei — Earl
is like Nisei in exposure a la Frank Arakawa. Sadly, Arakawa asked his
wife/kids to look for his 1915 speech of a lifetime in trying to get freed
from internment [Frank was Public Works asst. chief when interned -- Frank
as AJA leader greeted Nippon Navy ships whose crew went to see Kilauea
volcano, making his suspect enemy alien, even though he was born-raised
U.S. citizen], but they didn’t what he was talking about. When I bumped
into Frank’s elderly kids 50 yrs. after he was interned, they were shocked
that I produced Frank’s speech which was published in our Trib on what
we know today as Presidents Day 1915. I had Frank’s speech xeroxed
from public library microfilm. No indexing occurred till 1969, & from 1969 to
1999, indexing was very general/primitive. Only w/the advent of the computer
does indexing today reach decent specificity — but still doesn’t account for
the absence of good indexing pre-1999. I thank my bosom buddy Pat
Baptiste for retrieving manually newsclips pre-computer age. Pat died 5
yrs. ago. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Herb Isonaga 1921-2009 “fortune of circumstance”
Herb’s immortal attitude: WWII AJA soldiers better not think more highly of
themselves than they really are, inasmuch they just happened to stumble
upon the “fortune of circumstance.” They didn’t wake up one morning & tell
themselves, “We’re gonna be heroes today.” They just fell into it. Herb is
the positive AJA exemplar, not Ed Ichiyama/Moriso Teraoka/Mats Takabuki.
And I thank Franklin Odo for spiriting up us all about the significance/symbolism
of Herb Isonaga — a well-educated man who never thought himself more than
a simple servant of humanity!! Thanks to Franklin’s heads-up on Herb
[Franklin's celebrated book on the history of the VVV, No Sword to Bury], I’ve
since written extensively about Herb’s positive exemplar for us all, incl. my
“Dispatches from Curt” [I thank great editor Tiffany Edwards Hunt for such
catchy phrase & for publishing my compositions] at Big Island Chronicle
website, on home page look at right hand column, scroll down category
index to “Dispatches from Curt.” In large part, I attribute my praise of
Herb to Franklin Odo’s own loving/engaging/earthy-grassroot character/
personality. Like antecedent Herb, Franklin born 1939 is unpretentious/
compassionate/generous. To me, Franklin Odo is the reincarnation of
Herbert Isonaga. And lest 442 glorifier kids [Sons/Daughters of RCT]
think otherwise, I ain’t no 442 wanna-be envyer/jealous. Uncle Willy
Thompson, who is more japanee in heart than all us Japs combined [just
talk to Willy's "hood" from Waiakea/Yashijima, militants like Isamu Kanekuni --
they stand shoulder squared w/Willy to the death], was a great soldier
[Bronze Star]. Uncle Willy was embraced by my much older Dad Toshi
1913-1998, Silver Star recipient. No, I ain’t jealous, just sick of all the
incessant publicity swirling around the remaining 442 boys. I distinguish
the much older 100th originals [via conscription 1940-1941, youngest
draftee is a guy like Shgeru Ushijima born Sept. 1918-2009, John's older brother
whom conceited John just ignored] from the militant young 442 rebels like
Dan Inouye born 1924. My heart rests w/the older boys. Love always, –Curt
From: Ted Tsukiyama
Subject: State 442nd President Willy Okino Thompson born 1924
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009
Curtis:
Did you hear that Herb Isonaga, HQ 2nd with your father, passed away yesterday of medical complications? No word of when funeral services will be held.
Ted
—– Original Message —–
From: Curt
Subject: State 442nd President Willy Okino Thompson born 1924
Does a grunt/rifleman fairly judge his 36th Division 2 Star General
Dahlquist when the infantryman’s fate hangs in the balance? To
a man, the 442nd RCT despises Dahlquist, dismissing Dahlquist as
reckless/careless/clueless based on Dahlquist’s field behavior-tactics
[most odious being the stranded Lost Battalion, that pushed too far
along & had its supply/essential components cut off]. The 4 COs
most repulsed by Dahlquist are Pence [not judge Pence]/Shingles/
Hanley/Capt. Young Oak Kim. In contrast, 34th Div. Gen. Charles W.
Ryder was cogent/smart. Dahlquist’s aide Wells Lewis [Sinclair's son]
didn’t have to die — Dahlquist exposed Lewis to enemy fire. Churchill
couldn’t stand Gen. Mark Clark, whom Churchill rejected as too cautious/
conservative. But the AJA warriors cherished Clark. What do these
varied views say about the 442/100th? Clark was not reckless like
Dahlquist, nor audacious like Montgomery/Patton. Like Ryder, Clark
was ever the pragmatist/sure-footed one. A soldier’s General a la
Omar Bradley. Breach Vosges by force the mantra, never happened
before. The Nisei soldiers accomplished it. More about them than
about Dahlquist. Yet, Dahlquist got his 4th Star/medal-popper on
the lifeless backs of his 442/100th sacrificial lambs that he put out
to slaughter. And Clark retired less dignified than Dahlquist. Ironic.
Uncle Willy is in no position to explicate on Dahlquist’s failures as
General. But Dahlquist, emblematic of medal-popper smugness/
conceit, has no support up the chain of command thruout the
Nisei RCT [incl. eventual 1st Batt. 100th]. I wish Uncle Willy’s
boys, however few in number today [most died of old age], focus
more on history & less on ceremony/pomp-pageantry, which sicken
me because the 442 RCT gets inordinate publicity vis a vis other
veterans of all other wars. My Dad was 442, so I’m not jealous
of the 442. The problem w/our Sansei/kids of 442 veterans
is the kids’ exaggerated idolatry of their realistically-flawed fathers.
Let’s face it — the post-1920 born plantation Nisei soldiers got
pugnacious/arrogant with their newly-received high school diplomas,
unlike their older pre-1920 born brethren who were accomodationist/
willing subjects of benevolent paternalism of the Big Five oligarchy,
that enslaved these kids [incl. my Dad] to the menial planter
society hegemony by depriving them of schooling beyond the 8th
grade. A Spark Matsunaga born 1916 typifies the non-rebuke
genre, whereas asshole Dan Inouye born 1924 typifies the
repudiatory militant asshole generation that received high school
diplomas. Let’s be realistic, gang. The 442 boys are not God.
They’re flawed, even more so [social climbers/status trippers]
than the rest of us. The glare of publicity. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Bandstand at Mo’oheau Park opened in 1905, though sign says 1904
Mo’oheau Park bandstand’s sign says 1904 because the dedication occurred
just before the New Year 1905. It opened to the public in 1905. Pete Beamer
was denied entry to Ho’olulu Park by Temperance Society ladies for Pete’s
Sunday baseball games, inasmuch such events violated our Sunday Blue Laws
[Christian day of rest]. So Pete played baseball at the Hackfeld lumber yard
[Cow Palace parking lot] adjacent to today’s Mo’oheau Park. Which galvanized
our solons to fill in the Ponahawai swamp [today's Mo'oheau Park] that resulted
in today’s Mo’oheau Park & bandstand. Now Pete could play ball w/out riling
up the Temperance Society ladies who considered Ho’olulu Park their personal
playground [the only large convention hall/ballroom in back of the stadium in
Hilo turn of the last century]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
President Obama’s greatest strength
Hussein. Yes, President Obama as Black/Arabic backdrop via phantom dad
took the wind clear out of the sails of Muslim extremists. President Obama’s
symbolism of America as the land of opportunity for EVERYONE, especially
President Obama, is his & OUR greatest strength. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Afghanistan combat veteran paratrooper Isaac Nahakuelua
Isaac born 1981, Hilo High honors grad 1999, chose to enlist in the
Army 1999-2005, served as paratrooper in Afghanistan War
2004-2005, 82nd Airborne. Came home to Hilo after tour of duty
in Afghanistan, worked at our newspaper Trib & is UH-Hilo psychology
student. Isaac the oldest child in a family of 4 children. Isaac’s dad
David Nahakuelua is very patriotic & is Isaac’s early role model, David
an Army veteran. Isaac has experienced the sin of greed, as when the
Trib forced him to resign instead of laying him off [that would make him
eligible to collect unemployment comp. benefits], that is documented
via articles if you google Isaac Nahakuelua. Isaac’s military dichotomy
is illustrated by Isaac’s feeling Nature’s beauty in Afghanistan w/the
gentle breeze/the chirping of birds/the sweet smell of flower blossoms,
all abruptly halted by the whirring sound of incoming mortar shells &
their deafening/explosive impact. Isaac’s heartfelt joy while in Afghanistan
was providing food supplies/snacks to the innocent little children, who
never tasted carbonated soda before nor blueberry muffins. Affable Isaac
also was befriended by topflight U.S. officials in Afghanistan, who respected
Isaac’s gentle ways w/the native population. Though Isaac is tough as
rawhide, Isaac is tender like a child when among the native population.
Empowering yet humbling, as erudite Vietnam War Navy purple heart
recipient John Burnett observes Isaac. Isaac’s self-actualization occurred
a few years ago when Isaac drove cross-island, & Isaac was called by God
to accept life as it is, & to help others no matter what the situation. Isaac’s
clarity/crystalization occur just before he goes to sleep at night, & when
he awakes in the morning. He had 3 dreams over the years which to me
denote his nature, as he reminisces during his peaks of clarity, starting from
most recent to the oldest dream. The 1st dream denotes audacity, the
willingness to upend the status quo even if just by comforting others who are
rejected/forsaken by society. The 2nd dream denotes the power of
love [for country/family] to overcome fear. The 3rd dream denotes that one’s
destiny is not so much about choosing one’s fate, but that such fate eventually
is revealed to the person, as illustrated by Isaac throwing food items into the
water for fish to feed on, but not tinkering about whether to throw such items
into the water out of uncertainty over which fish will feast on the food. One
cannot control others, but at least can try to do good to others, just as one can
pray for the good health of others, even though one cannot control another person’s
fate or destiny. The timeline is from New to Old because as I see Isaac, he reaches
back in time to his core reason for existence, who he really is. To me, Isaac is
a loving/understanding/compassionate person who is here to comfort others &
to share in the joy of living one’s life fully. Yes, Isaac takes up psychology to
learn more about himself & the world, but to me he has self-actualized, he knows
he is the loving & generous person that he is to others in everyday life. In the
sum of his life experiences, to me Isaac always will be closely connected to his
epiphany as an Airborne paratrooper, having seen the fleeting nature of our
mortal existence, but feeling complete as a civilian as evidenced by God intoning
to him to accept life as it is [w/all of life's ups & downs], but to comfort others.
Aloha, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Biographies
Yoshito Takamine born 1926 was interviewed by UH prof but public bio
not existent. I asked ILWU Local 142 to videotape Yoshito to preserve
Yoshito’s life story. I don’t know if Baker’s gang will do it.
Scrub Tanaka 1915-2006 did brief oral history on Scrub’s link w/Jack Burns,
at UH Manoa 1977. I’ve provided recipients w/my own anecdotes on Scrub. I
don’t know if/when Scrub’s daughter will do Scrub’s bio.
George Martin 1924-2008 gave a brief anecdotal reminiscence of George’s life
to ILWU gang, available online. Of course, the mystery questions on George’s
r/n w/Harry Bridges/Scrub Tanaka/Yoshito Takamine were addressed
in my own earlier emails [Harry wanted longshoreman to succeed Harry, not
plantation worker George/Scrub respected George & vice-versa, because
Scrub took care Big Island except Hamakua Coast for Jack Burns, while
George took care sugar mill camps/Hamakua Coast for Jack Burns/George
always team first, never publicly lamented over Yoshito, but privately
stung that Yoshito has no loyalty to anyone but Yoshito]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Detached enlisted men’s list [DEML]/Mainland AJAs WWII
Military kotonks/AJAs were shorn of firearms/weapons via DEML directive
to remove kotonks/AJAs from sensitive military bases & reassign them
to non-combat specs/non-weapon duties. FDR’s E.O. 9066 to remove
West Coast kotonks from West Coast designation as “military zone” still
allowed kotonks to move inland/allowed inland [Central States] kotonks
to stay put [like Utah's Mike Masaoka]. E.O. 9066 did not impose martial
law as FDR’s Order 2525 did [immediately detain "enemy aliens," even
though detainees incl. American citizens/Nisei-2nd generation AJAs] in
our Haw’n Islands. By nightfall on 12/7/41, our finest/patriotic citizens
were hauled off to KMC/CCC camps [Panaewa], incl. Lincoln Wrecker/
County Bd. of Supervisor [County councilor] Frank Ishii 1896-1985/
our 1st-ever AJA Territorial Senator Sanji Abe 1895-1982/Dem Party
honcho Dr. Ernest Mitsuo Kuwahara 1899-1983/Territorial Rep. Thomas
Sakakihara 1900-1989. Had buddaheads/Haw’n Islands AJAs been classified
not as enemy aliens [which they weren't] but akin to DEML [allowing military
enlistment, even if shorn of weapons/firearms], we might not have
had immediate detainment of patriotic American citizens like our solons/
politicians above. But in the hysteria of Jap attack, our isolation in
the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, our 160,000 Japanese residents
in Hawai`i [one-third of overall population], our sugar industry vital
to national interest [sugar food product]/essential commodity [manned
by majority buddaheads in plantations], & no means of transport to
relocate/intern-incarcerate Hawai`i buddaheads to Stateside venues –
it was impossible to do to buddaheads what FDR did to kotonks/Mainland
Japanese, who numbered less than us here [110,000 Mainland kotonks].
Thence re-classification of us citizens as enemy aliens under martial law.
Martial law here & not Stateside because if U.S. lost Hawai`i to Japan,
Japan would get tremendous foothold to attack West Coast. Now, on
the other hand, after Emmons’ air attack helped win Battle of Midway June
1942, w/Hawai`i secure from Jap invasion, was there military necessity
to continue en masse internment/forced relocation of kotonks/Mainland
AJAs per E.O. 9066? No, but amid mass hysteria vs. Japs/shocking
audacity of Japan to attack Pearl Harbor [FDR expected exact 12/7/41
daylight attack on U.S. bases in South Pacific, not Hawai`i], political
reality dictated continued mass internment/Hawai`i martial law. Even
California’s Gen. De Witt questioned the practicality of wholesale removal
of kotonks from Western “military zones,” backdropped by not one incident
of espionage/subversion, prior to removal of kotonks, but amid the
deafening clamor of so-called public opinion/mass hysteria, Gen. De Witt
acquiesced to public obsession/paranoia. Detainees in Hawai`i were called
POWs, not WRA subjects. In all, incl. 6,000 newborns/1,800 POWS paroled
into WRA internment camps/2,200 Hawai`i family members who voluntarily
entered WRA camps to reunite w/their “paroled” dads [like Frank Arakawa
1891-1977], the total # of internee residents was 120,000, not 110,000.
Yes, the end result [incarceration] was the same, though the euphemisms
were different [Mainland kotonks removed from Western "military" zones per
E.O. 9066][Hawai`i buddaheads selectively detained as POWs, & those
whose wives wanted to reunite w/husbands were shipped off as parolees
to Mainland/Stateside WRA internment camps. --Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Wainaku kids’ swim spots 1800s to 1965
Pukihae stream [where Wainaku Ave. makes horseshoe bend at Pu`u`eo].
Honoli`i cove [not surf spot, which was fishing spot until Fred Hemmings era
1965] estuary [beautiful area directly beneath Belt Rd. bridge]. Pukihae bay
not a beach, accessible pre-Belt Rd. via 1922-built tract Halaulani Place [pre-
1922 via Pukihae stream itself/via pre-1946 RR track thru earthen
banks/walls -- RR makai/parallel to Belt Rd. --built 1951]. Small sandy cove
south of today’s Wainaku scenic lookout point adjacent to Hilo Sugar mill
turbid effluent/shark-infested waters–no current steep trail down to beach. -Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Common purpose — fix the economy
Because of the fall of Wall St. 2008, Obama was elected w/margin of
victory not seen by Dem President since FDR. Obama’s centrist approach
draws moderates who voted for McCain. Such middle/working class bases result
in common purpose to avert further job loss a la FDR jump-start infusion of labor
[WPA/etc.]/a la Obama’s capital/money infusion today. Fiscal conservative
George Will could care less about social conservatives. George hopes that Obama
won’t throw good money after bad as George’s criticized liberal Dems have done.
One thing George Will/Obama agree on — constraint/regulation of investment banks
that seeded the CDS [credit default swap][derivatives/hedge funds ergo worthless
paper] colossus/mighty fall. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Plus influences
Onomea’s Tadao Okimoto 1919-1993 [home turf of the father of Japan college baseball,
Hisashi Koshimoto], sleepy plantation village native, was Jack Burns’ [1909-1975] dearest
friend. Tadao was not Burns’ slash/burn strategist [Scrub Tanaka 1915-2006 was], nor
was Tadao Burns’ campaign checks/balances eye [Norm Tsuji 1924-2005 was], nor was
Tadao Burns’ legislative promoter [Kazu Abe 1914-1996 was]. But Tadao was Burns’ calming
Psalms, though Tadao was Buddhist by faith. Tadao’s peacemaker legacy stayed w/him
till the end, as he linked up w/Gill fomentor Bill Bonk to lead the Dem Party into the 1990s.
Tadao’s 1940s contempo in personality/character was Hideo Lefty Kuniyoshi 1921-2007,
442 K Co. hercules [steeled inner strength], who, like Tadao, you would not hear a boo-
peep from unless he was asked for his opinion [enryo-humbleness]. Tadao’s incarnate
manifestation today is S.Ct.’s most beloved justice Jim Duffy — Duffy’s magnanimity
suffuses across party lines — he is Lingle’s only S.Ct. pick. Everything you know about
Tadao, manifests via Duffy — esp. Tadao’s mantra — ganbari/perseverance — we
choose life-changing directions [vs. Big 5 oligarchy] not because they are easy, not
even because they are impossible to achieve, but because they are the only decent/
right thing(s) to do. No, John Waihe`e bullshits that Waihe`e follows Tadao’s divine
lead, just as Jim Burns [Jack's phlegmatic son] says so. These 2 Simon the Zealot
are opposite of Tadao in everything you can imagine. Here is vintage Tadao –
as he readies himself for the unfathomable task of challenging the Big 5, he sits
by the furo/fireside bath, & mutters, “It’s not sacrifice when you give your last
ounce of devotion to do what’s right — it’s a blessing from up above.” Tadao’s
On [selfless martyrdom] is his everlasting legacy/destiny. Jack Burns? Jack
is not Jack, he is Moses, who leads us out of bondage/delivers us to the
Promised Land [Summa Theologica -- everybody's equal]. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Mentor
No, D.C. Howard Law School guru Charles Hamilton Houston 1895-1950
[mentored by Jesse Shima's bosom buddy Rev. Mordecai Johnson, 1st
Black president of Howard U.] is the 1st Black editor Harvard Law [Obama
born 1961 is the 1st Black elected prexy of political Harvard Law (Review)].
Houston beams down w/pride at peacemaker/hippie Obama, who (so
unlike his stuffy younger law student peers), brought dignity/earthy
pragmatism to egghead dorks. Greatest strength of Obama is Obama’s
grounded past/humble beginnings. No question about Obama’s loving
nature — he’s the real goods! Obama’s spiritual forebearer Charles
Hamilton Houston [voracious historian-learner Obama bones up on
gurus Rev. Mordecai Johnson/Charles Hamilton Houston/etc.] is the
legal mentor to irascible/impetuous jester [but brilliant mind] Thurgood
[shortened from Biblical Thoroughgood] Marshall 1908-1993 [Brown
v. Bd. of Education race-buster case 1954], who married Maui Pinoy
Cecilia Suyat [as in Claudio Suyat] after his 1st wife died. Marshall
has 2 sons from Cecilia, none from his 1st wife. Rev. Mordecai
Johnson was father figure like Charles Hemenway [Harvard Law has
namesake Hemenway Bldg.] 1975-1947, Houston was passionate/
subduly intense like John Young 1902-1990, & Thurgood Marshall
was a cut-up [but genius] like irrepressible Hung Wai Ching 1905-
2002. Not to make mind god over heart, but Johnson/Houston/
Marshall were valedictorians thru their schoolings/ascensions.
Marshall’s case is typical of the unusual twists in life — Marshall’s
elem. teacher gives him the baleful glare [Marshall class jester]
& punishes him by forcing him to read/memorize the U.S.
Constitution. He gets so turned on doing so, he thanks his
teacher to no end. She ended up in her own sense of heaven!
Amazing incongruity! But undeniably, race relations’ master-stroke
is comic relief’s Sam Clemens aka river water measure Mark
Twain, Sam’s Hannibal Mo. Mississippi river port. Water-man
Clemens loved his stay in Hawai`i & wrote about it. Sam’s levity/
air of detachment/amusement found their bearings in our most
popular folklore — Huck Finn — where’s society’s norms/rules are
turned on their head when Huck agonizes over violating slave
law by refusing to turn in slave runaway Jim, just as Sam’s
White/Frisco raconteur laments over violating Frisco custom
unless he stones Chinks. Yes, reverse psychology. Yes,
Sam’s pen was much mightier than humanity’s sword.
But to the mediocre small minds of this world, saying that
one doesn’t have advanced formal schooling is a lousy
excuse for dismissing society’s hot-button substantive
colloquys in favor of small talk over silly nothings ["I had
constipation this morning"/"Who did you meet at the
post office today?"]. Why?? Because like so many other
deep life-steeped self-taught persons [Henry J. Kaiser/
CC Kennedy/Thomas Paine/Einstein], ill child Sam Clemens
quit school after his father’s untimely death [Sam left
the 5th grade like Uncle Manuel Dias Souza 1912-2008].
Cop-outs who say, “I’m not interested in ‘educated’
high-falootin’ talks,” are reminded of America’s finest
folklorist Sam Clemens’ fifth grade education. Pono.
Jew Jack Greenberg born 1924 was Thurgood Marshall’s
erstwhile asst., & deservedly will be recognized in upcoming
movie on Brown v. Bd. of Education [Marshall, lead man].
Jeremiah the cynic not featured ["I only finished high school,
I'm not interested in your college-level talk"]. Sam Clemens
epitomized plain talk, not small talk. I’m always reminded
of my father, Toshi 1913-1998, who never went past
the 8th grade [Big 5 oligarchy repression -- planter society].
Yet, Dad’s bosom buddies were educated men [Pastor Hiro
Higuchi, avowed pacifist --442 chaplain/etc.]. Because
Dad was a plainsman like Sam Clemens. No one loved
life/gusto better than plain ole’ Sam/my dearest Dad! Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Judaism oldest of monotheistic faiths 2000 B.C. [1st day of Jewish
calendar 3,760 B.C. -- before 1st complex civilization]
Middle East’s Fertile Crescent [Tigris-Euphrates River Valleys]/
Mesopotamia/Sumer was world’s 1st complex society 3,500 B.C
Judaism’s Yahweh entered into covenant w/Abraham’s
descendants, God’s chosen people. Abraham left Mesopotamia
& entered Canaan 2000 B.C.. His bloodline descended thru
Isaac, then Jacob-Israel, whose progeny were Israelites. 12
families of Israel migrated to Egypt, where they were enslaved.
They were led out of bondage by Moses 1200 B.C. They
returned to Canaan after a 40 yr. sojourn in the desert.
Saul’s son David unified the land of Israel & made Jerusalem
the religous center 1000 B.C. David’s son Solomon’s reign
was the golden age, after which the kingdom was split into
Israel in the north & Judah in the south. Political conflicts
resulted in the conquest of Israel by Assyria & of Judah by
Babylon. Judeans were allowed to return in 540 B.C., where
they were ruled as a Persian province. Persian rule ended
when Alexander the Great conquered Palestine 330 B.C.
The Romans conquered Jerusalem 60 B.C. Thence, you
see the Torah sequence of societies — Mesopotamia/
Egypt/Assyria/New Babylonia/Persia/Greece/Rome. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Audacity — Hung Wai Ching’s exemplar
Like Iceland/California’s Geysers, Hawai`i is blessed w/geothermal energy. Toxic
emissions from geothermal plants release just 5% of fossil-fuel emissions per
equivalent load, almost no greenhouse gasses vs. fossil-fuels. Hung Wai would
push for geothermal energy. Our production issue is political — we need to get
clear/present danger to our people via fossil fuel supply/costs motto & go full-
steam to obtain HVNP allowance to be 100% non-fossil fuel dependent. Our
motor vehicles will run on full power from electricity via geothermal energy.
Hung Wai would say Hawai`i is blessed w/innate energy independence. Yes,
audacity. Pohoiki is a mistake for many reasons — geopolitical overall.
HVNP needs to clear the way for our population to be 100% energy-
independent [vs. fossil fuel/greenhouse gasses]. Only a Hung Wai would
have the common sense/practical wisdom to promote such a politically-
suicidal plan [vs. retro Haw'n self-promoters]. Yes, culture/heritage are
necessary to our health as a society, but clear/present danger to our
energy needs require geothermal independence. Hung Wai a very special man. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
“Prophetic church sermon” is not Christian [comfort the afflicted/afflict the comfortable]
Black prophetic church sermon hops onto Jewish prophetic church sermon [comfort
the afflicted/afflict the comfortable]. Based on Old Testament revenge, it is fleshly/
flawed, & takes God out of His proper Place. True prophetic Scripture is about Man
disobeying God, not about race/ethnicity/culture — to overcome sin, not tiff over race.
Of course, the New Testament brings us to the Grace of God. “If you lose yourself in
Me, you save yourself.” Free will — Mankind’s choice of good vs. evil. Satan’s fall is
his Lust for God’s power/omnipotence — fallen nature is the eternal duality of good vs.
evil. Same set on Adam & Eve. Man chooses himself/Satan over God. New Testament
righteousness is wise as serpents/harmless as doves — no fear, just love/righteousness.
And the fallen masses shouted, “Why don’t you call your legion of angels to bring you
down off that Cross??” To which Jesus chastened, “My Kingdom is not of this world, but
of Paradise above.” Just as the Crusades lust for power, fleshly motives, not for Christ, so
the teeming masses lust for Man’s power, not God’s omniscience. As w/Catholicism,
Judaism is not temple-based, but rabbinical-ensconced. Abraham saw in Isaac a type of
Christ, Muslim Faith comes from Ishmael, not Isaac. Muslim faith is not geopolitical, but
postures as such. As to self-flagellation, Christ suffered fully on the Cross, via God’s
turning God’s Back to Man because of Man’s sin [when Jesus lamented, "Why thoust Father
desert me?"]. To self-inflict bloodletting is to say that God didn’t finish the job on Christ
the Son of God. Wages of sin were paid by Jesus’ death. There are many ways to Christ
[John the Baptist], but only one way to God, through Jesus. Roy Kim, esteemed disciple of
Christ, says that Ehren Watada cannot quietly go away, because righteousness is about the
difference b/n conforming to the order of things & doing what’s right. It’s wrong for others to
do wrong too, so Ehren has no choice but to speak up, not be stoic as I suggest. Roy says
that righteousness is not about image, but Heart. Pastor Roy, steeped in Pentecostal evangelical
tradition, even quietly chafes vs. me that Ehren’s stand/righteousness are no different than
MacArthur’s “I did my duty as God gave me the sight to do my duty,” nor of Antonio Taguba’s
“I did as ordered” [Abu Ghraib MP abuse]. Amazing Grace — Heartful Pastor Roy Kim, born 1946.
My messiah, though Roy concludes opposite. Variety is the spice of life. And jesus/Roy exhorts,
“there are many ways to Jesus, but only one way to God — righteousness.” Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Ah Chew Goo is today’s NBA
The zone opens up the game for passing/cutting, while averting overload in the
paint [3 second defense limit away from foe]. The 8 second backcourt limit
speeds the tempo & allows lively defense. All as Ah Chew Goo played it 75
yrs. ago! Vance Walberg changed the college game via his AASAA [attack/
skip/attack]/DDM [dribble drive motion offense], as he taught it to Memphis’
Calipari. All as Ah Chew Goo played it 75 yrs. ago! –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Age progression is not sign of wisdom [Barack Obama, acknowledge your hoop mates!]
Jeremiah Wright declares Rev. Samuel De Witt Proctor 1921-1997
as Wright’s big hero. If so, Wright has done Proctor wrong. JFK-
protege Proctor was so despondent over JFK’s death that Proctor
resigned as university president. Proctor detested militants/
proselytizers of hopelessness [which Wright promotes for profit],
& as is said of Wright, leaders who falter far too short of Amos,
Micah, Isaiah, & Jeremiah. Wright’s appeal is honorific/
ornamental, to use Proctor’s lingo. Like Francis Sogi, one can
have the world as his oyster, but his heart/character await
Jesus’ evaluation for Truth. Like Sogi, Wright is a self-adorned
narcissist/crybaby [me/me/me]. And no, Obama wasn’t a
talented hoopster [Punahou '79]. Obama had better bone up
on Gideon, who would’ve given glory to Obama’s talented
teammates, instead of glorifying himself a la cunning Wright.
Yes, gang, such are the windows of opportunity to evaluate
Obama — via the trivial/irreverent [hoops][but indicative of
deepest purview]. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Gender w/* [asterisk] — Hillary is in the race as Bill’s wife [written before 2008 election]
To America’s Silent Majority, Hillary is not the auspicious wayfinder female lead, simply
because she still is Bill’s wife. Had Hillary divorced Bill, her chance to be President
would be nil. Americans have confidence/faith in Hillary because she has Bill
behind her. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
The graveside
Maggie Inouye is buried at Punchbowl, not Arlington. Where will Dan Inouye
be buried? Hirano? Three’s a crowd, especially at the graveside. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Contrast: Gov. Lingle/Gov. Ariyoshi
Gov. Lingle’s faux pas that she did not know of Gov. Ariyoshi’s Windward
Regional Plan [preservation of rural countryside]. Gov. Ariyoshi prepared
meticulous reports/studies & sought public input on his conservation plans.
Night/Day b/n these 2 heads of state, Lingle vacuous, Ariyoshi substantive. -Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Scrub Tanaka led reconstruction in wake of 1960 tsunami
Scrub led the Kaiko`o redevelopment project. Ironically, Lofty Cook beat Scrub for
County Chairman 1960 [today's mayor's equivalent], w/ILWU support. Popular/
friendly Lofty was a bank teller, Scrub was an entrepreneur. Scrub’s flaw was
his shogun/despotic nature, just like man of action/do-er Dom Yagong. “Ya’
can’t live w/em, ya’ can’t live w/outem.” Yikes!
February 4th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Failure — a learning experience
Abraham lied about his wife, Moses killed a man, David committed adultery, &
Paul persecuted Christians. Failure is a part of life. Jack Burns lost 4 of his first
6 races/elections. Frank Fasi lost so many elections before he became mayor in
1968, I cannot even remember the number of losses. An Ike Sutton/Larry Meachum
“professional candidate” he was!! Look at lucky Bernard Akana & the upset
of the century vs. Dante Carpenter 1988. Honest Abe Lincoln struck out 11 times
before his 1860 Presidential victory. Don’t give up!! The grim reaper feeds on fear.
The key word is patience. David was 37 when he finally ruled the whole nation,
& he was 30 when he ruled Hebron. Just like Jesus, Buddha, & Muhammad, all
of whom self-actualized at age 30, & then walked into the pages of history.
Age 30 back then is what middle age now is for us. “I asked for all things,
so that I might enjoy life … I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I am among men, most richly blessed.” From prayer sheet folded in the pocket
of a Confederate soldier KIA Civil War. “My Grace is sufficient for thee.”
2 Cor. 12:9. Jesus on the Cross, a man of sorrows, acquainted w/grief.
Isaiah 53:3. “Out of ivory palaces, into a world of woe, only God’s great eternal
love made my Savior go.” Henry Barraclough. “Did ever such love or sorrow
meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown [Jesus on the Cross]?” Isaac
Watts. Cords stronger than steel — blessed are those who mourn, for
they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4. “Naked I came, naked I go.” Job 21
[Job was the wealthiest man a la Bill Gates many millennia past]. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Robert Reed born 1936 — a solid American [Midwest roots]
GOP Bob Reed came to O`ahu w/the Navy 1956, & moved to Paradise Park in 1976, where he
lived w/his wife Priscilla [daughter of Hilo Iron Works/sumotori/Shinmachi '46 tsunami rescuer-messiah
Manuel Arruda][Bob widower]. Always cheerful, perennial losing candidate Bob 1976-2000 was picked by Gov.
Lingle to pep up fellow GOP losing candidates, & most then again ran for office, the American way,
free country, give voters a choice. Bob has no respect for carpetbaggers like Harvey Tajiri/Harry Kim.
When Harry Kim ran for mayor 2000, Kim sucked up to Bob/GOP brethren. When Kim beat Holschuh,
Bob never again saw Kim at GOP go-to meets. The only good thing about Kim/Tajiri tiff 2000 GOP
primary was that one opportunist eliminated another. Bob respects Richard Nixon for opening up
trade w/China. Bob wants us out of Iraq, where we have become a colonial/occupation force.
Bob hopes that McCain wakes up & gets us out. Bob likes Ollie North’s directness, in spite of
North’s sordid past. Bob says that forgiveness is esssential to our growth spiritually/as a
nation. Bob commends Reagan for the Soviet political implosion/demise. Bob says that current
President Bush needs to stop the jingoism/xenophobia which Bush caused. Although Bob won’t
vote for a Dem, Obama’s popolo skin roots him to America’s rank/file, & Bob respects Obama
for being grounded. After all, Bob’s wife was Hawaiian/Luso. But Bob opposes sovereignty. Bob
favors HHA only as a springboard to lease-fee conversion [to atone for past avarice vs. Haw'ns],
& opposes OHA’s one drop blood quantum mentality. Bob okays affirmative action, but not
Jesse Jackson/Haunani Trask race hegemony/handouts. Bob is pro-choice abortion, but promotes
contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy; abortion is repugnant to Bob. Bob is for civil unions/
reciprocal benefits, but opposes same sex marriage. Bob is for euthanasia, but only if court-ordered case
by case basis. Bob is for capital punishment, but only after strict appellate review. Bob lives his
John Dewey social progress creed — he got his GED/college degree, but Bob has compassion for
have-nots — he adopted 2 foster children/believes in ennobling the powerless. Like puritan Roger
Williams, Bob believes in separation of church/state, & dismisses Robertson as self-gainer/egotist-
materialist. Bob is for right to bear arms, but only if strictly regulated [to avert Virginia Tech tragedy].
Bob says that our containment of communism policy didn’t work in Vietnam, just as our anti-
Muslim extremists format fails us now in the Middle East, so we need to be adept socially
conscious capitalists & not retro imperialists. The old stuff/colonialism hurt us/the world. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Ego
So MacArthur & President Truman happen to arrive at Wake Island at the same time
in different planes from opposite directions. MacArthur tells his pilot to have Truman land
first. To which Truman chafes when hearing of this, You tell that SOB to land first!
He’s gonna greet me, I ain’t gonna greet him!
February 4th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
The Great Divide: Bob Oshiro, 442 wanna-be a la George Ariyoshi, comes to Hilo’s KKTei Restaurant to beseech Scrub [& Scrub's confidant
Isamu Kanekuni born 1921] to campaign for Ariyoshi 1974 Governor race. Scrub/
Isamu know what a panty-ass Ariyoshi is. When Ariyoshi sat on the fence vs.
the Maryland Land Bill [lease to fee conversion (vs. Bishop Estate)], Kazuhisa
Abe told Ariyoshi to stop being a wimp to landed estates. Ariyoshi was told by
Kazuhisa to sit down when Ariyoshi tried to doubletalk his way around the Bill.
Isamu saw this w/Isamu’s own eyes. Larry Mehau born Dec. 1929 Villa Franca
Hilo boy cozied up to Ariyoshi as Ariyoshi eyed up the governor’s race. Scrub
knew all about Larry’s sycophant MO. So Ariyoshi comes to the old Hilo airport
restaurant & has to wait for Larry to eat Larry’s lunch as Ariyoshi cools his heels,
knowing that Larry is Ariyoshi’s meal ticket to campaign PR/festivities/fundraising.
Larry got Ariyoshi right where Larry needed him, in Larry’s hip pocket. This from
the early kiss-asser/manipulator Larry. Is it any surprise that Larry feared &
never got past first base vs. Scrub? No. Scrub was not into self-gain/self-
dealing. Scrub could not be bought. Which is why the thugs who embellished
Mehau’s aura/mystique never scared Scrub, MIS/442 defiant rebel. Did Al Capone
put fear into Sgt. York, avowed pacifist? No. As WWII veteran Richard Uejo
chastened his drill sgt. when his drill sgt. told Richard to conform to foul-worded
marching commands, I don’t have to use foul language to be a good soldier!
You see, this is the panty-ass Ariyoshi which bobora [Burns serf] Oshiro
tried to foist on Scrub/Isamu. As it turned out, Oshiro had to rely on Scrub
protege Norm Tsuji & Al Nishimura to hapai ball Ariyoshi, after which nascent
Roland Higashi brought up the rear [from the youngsters]. KKTei epiphany? Dramatic
Bob [Oshiro] literally cried on “bended knees” & begged Scrub to head Ariyoshi’s
Big Isle gang. Scrub dismissed Oshiro as a warrior wanna-be, just like Ariyoshi.
Burns dynamite duo Dan Aoki 442 & Mike Tokunaga 100th replcmt., both equals/peers of
Scrub, also marginalized Ariyoshi as
a samurai wanna-be, & did not even conjure a thought of trying to persuade
Scrub to go all-out for Ariyoshi. Look at Teruo Coffee Kohashi Jr. born 1930,
Korean War Purple Heart, Mehau’s bosom buddy/hanna batta days brah’. Why
would Scrub want to consort w/young squirts like these? Of course, Scrub
did respect Coffee’s dad, Lincoln Wrecker icon/coach. Why would Scrub want to
consort w/Al Nishimura, whose dad Square was nothing more than a Tom
Cunningham cheerleader? Scrub’s only mistake was in underestimating the
intelligence/value of his serf Norm Tsuji, who was Burns’ alternative voice/scout.
What Scrub didn’t know was that Burns would have Norm report to Burns via
the rear/Miller St. entrance to Washington Place. Norm was loyal to Scrub,
& never double-crossed Scrub. But cagey Burns, ever desirous of diverse
input, valued Norm’s observations/strategizing. Of course, Norm always
praised Scrub’s leadership/brilliance to no end. Keep in mind that ever-doting
Tadao Okimoto of Onomea was just a comfort futon for Burns, not a
strategizer like Norm.
Why was Mehau classmate Pat Fukuda Saiki GOP? Because she worked for
Maui GOP solon Toshi Ansai born 1908. And her dad worked for GOP AmFac
in its Hilo office. And Toshi Ansai was GOP because he worked for the GOP
Baldwins. Larry Mehau is not Dem — he was peer Saiki’s biggest supporter.
My own observation/opinion — larger than life Hideo Romel Nakauchi 3rd Batt./
Pahoa boy — Kiyoshi Jonah Morimoto 3rd Batt. — DAV/WIA Jack Kondo –
& occasional visitor Eugene Eguchi 100th Batt. replacement — got together
at Cafe 100 9 am to 1 pm. Amazing bunch/samurai soldiers! Yes, they all
were younger than my Dad, but older boys like my Dad/Hiro Higuchi respected
these younger turks. If Hawi’s Stan Sakuma born 1921 [my in-law] &
Na`alehu’s Tsutomo Yoshida lived in Hilo, they would’ve been welcome
visitors at Cafe 100. DOE icon/Uncle Teiichi Timmy Hirata got POd at
his Sgt. Major & switched to MIS from 442. Heroes all! Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Author Thomas Murphy’s Ambassadors in Arms 1954 [100th Batt.]
Murphy’s top-rated bk.’s jacket cover says Of one of these men of faith, the editor of a Honolulu newspaper
wrote, ‘We were at the crossroads in that terrible December 1941 and it was largely due to his courage and
influence that Hawai`i took the right turn instead of the wrong … the entire community and the nation owe
him a debt of gratitude for his part in persuading us that we were justified in trying out the democratic ideals
we had professed.’ Who is this person, Pastor Takie Okumura [our greatest assimilationist, though older AJAs
resented him because he chastised Buddhists for being anti-American]? Pastor Hung Wai Ching? Both
gloves fit. As Ted Tsukiyama says, it’s great mentor Charles Hemenway. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Pastor Travis Wigginton & wife LaMoyne
Pastor Travis Wigginton & his lovely wife LaMoyne personify everybody’s equal, regardless
of race/color/social standing. They’ve made many friends here, understandably so.
Yes, their greatest strength is their indulgent/loving nature, love one love all! Like John,
they exude the tender/gentle/comforting touch. Remarkably compassionate/engaging
common saints. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Hawaiian blood quantum Day vs. Apoliona
1. Hawaiian Homes Commission Act 1921 set
aside 203,500 acres of ceded lands for ethnic Hawaiians of at least 50% blood quantum for
long-term residential/ag leases. The Statehood Admissions Act of 1959 included a provision in
Sec. 5(f) that ceded land revenues can be used for any one or more of 5 purposes, w/one of
those purposes being for the betterment of native Hawaiians as defined in the Hawaiian
Homes
Commission Act of 1921. Our State Con-Con in 1978 established OHA, and legislation in 1980
required that 20% of all ceded land revenues be given to OHA for the benefit of native
Hawaiians as defined in the HHCA of 1921 [50% blood quantum]. Although nearly all of OHA’s
almost half billion $ are earmarked by law for the 50% blood quantum Hawaiians, OHA dismisses
such edict, claiming that the Admissions Act land trust allows OHA to help the 1% blood
quantum
Hawaiians, inasmuch OHA is not Hawaiian Homes Commission [50% blood quantum].
Convoluted twisted thinking.
2. Ceded lands returned to Hawai`i via 1959 Admissions Act consist of 1.4 million acres of the
original 1.8 million acres which the Republic of Hawai`i had ceded to the U.S. in 1898. OHA’s
receipt of State general fund money [only one-tenth the amount received from ceded land
revenue] is earmarked for Hawaiians, not just the 50% Hawaiians.
3. Our U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause [Art. 1 Sec. 8] gives Congress power to regulate
commerce w/foreign nations, between the States, and with Indian tribes. Indian tribes
recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs are quasi-sovereign entities under the plenary
power of Congress. In contrast, no native Hawaiian land claims exist because neither the
1893 overthrow nor the 1898 annexation changed land ownership — public lands always
are held by the government for the public, just as they were pre-overthrow. Private lands
continue to be held by the owners.
4. The Lara case establishes that Congress can revive a tribe that was recognized before &
later de-certified. Congress does not have the power to create a tribe out of thin air,
as evidenced via the flawed Akaka Bill. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Hideo Lefty Kuniyoshi R.I.P. Star-Bulletin clip 7/28/07
Star-Bulletin correctly credits Lefty as Dem post-WWII wayfinder [Lefty was great 442nd
K Co. hero -- always said never judge a bk. by its cover -- the bravest soldiers were the humble/
compassionate ones -- Lefty was quiet/as excitable as a doorknob; combat veteran/UH scholar
Rick Castberg has Lefty's quiet demeanor/rarest equanimity]. Lefty reluctantly [not a politico,
a jeweler by trade] helped Jack Burns organize the nascent current Dem Party [w/Stanley
Hara/Kazuhisa Abe/Scrub Tanaka/Tadao Okimoto]. Lefty was the quietest of this bunch.
Tadao was the tranquil garoot/kazoku-”family” kid brother to Jack — fed Jack/provided furo-
shelter-bed for Jack at Tadao’s plantation home]. Lefty left Dem walkabouts long before
the Dem Party “revolution” of 1954; Lefty was busy trying to make a living for his family.
Ironically, Lefty’s wife/daughter are monoshiri, the opposite of self-effacing/grassroots
Lefty. Rick’s wife is super-nice/compassionate like Rick. That’s the diff b/n the Kuniyoshis/
Castbergs. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Portugal/Luso-educated Luis de Molina 1535-1600 — Molinism
Luso pride/theologian Luis sought to reconcile God’s ominiscience w/human free will — that
both were compatible because human free will expressed God’s earthly acts — to everything
there is a season. Luis’ theological progeny Dutch Jacobus Arminius 1560-1609 presaged
Methodist founder English John Wesley 1703-1791 [social responsibility -- prison reform/
abolitionist]. See Wesley sites in Kalihi/Manoa. Yes, Arminius/Wesley rejected Reformation’s
French John Calvin’s 1509-1564 organizational hegemony a la ritual Catholicism. Direct
intercession rescinded bureaucrats/intermediaries. True, Baha`i/Mormons have no clergy
[church is fellowship/priesthood of all believers -- everybody's equal], but they have councilors/
elders which in effect are clergy. Sage/magnanimous pastor Roy Kim born 1946 sees God’s
Truth thru the prism of earthly images. A recalcitrant young Roy opined 4 decades ago Look
at these pathetic men shuffling forward thru these aisles to ask for forgiveness/blessing. Yuk!
Today’s mature Roy intones God manifests Himself in many ways — thru these individuals I
can learn of God’s Truth. Each person presents a unique manifestation of God, an eternal
test of Faith. Yes, Norman Vincent Peale’s/Billy Graham’s power of positive thinking. Great
attitude. Neither does Roy promote poverty/asceticism/monk’s life as keys to deeper
understanding. After all, Solomon/David/Isaiah were patricians, not vassals. Yet they
were chosen by God to lead us to Paradise. David was a murderer/adulterer, but he atoned
for his sins & served God to no end. Look at lowly Jesus, a simple carpenter. But Jesus is
Son of God. God manifests Himself/His Word in many ways. High/low, rich/poor, no matter.
Spirit fearlessly, seek thy Truth/Life/Way. Hence, to erudite/man of tremendous equanimity
Roy Kim, punitive Paul/joyous John are but different means of spreading the singular Gospel.
That they are different in temperament is ephemeral/fleeting. Everlasting is God’s Truth/
Scripture. Finally, Roy is not a theocrat [Christian Nation polity]; like Separatist John Smythe/
Baptist Roger Williams, no authority/entity stands between the faithful & God — State/secular
never intervene in Church/canons. In this respect, Roy rejects political immersion/Calvinist
activism [like how Arminius/Wesley rejected Calvin's organizational hierarchy]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
1. Imagine, Herkes switched from GOP to Dem, Scrub Tanaka was unable to lord over Scrub’s
vassal Holschuh in 2000 Dem mayoral primary, so Scrub defects to support Herkes vs.
Holschuh, & Herkes loses to Holschuh. Scrub was over-the-hill/powerless by then.
2. Dem Harvey Tajiri was told by Scrub not to run for mayor, that a buddahead could not win
the mayor’s race in 2000 [Kona anti-Jap votes], but a haole could [Holschuh]. Harvey
then defected to GOP, & Harvey’s point was that GOP chief Lingle endorsed Harvey.
But then opportunist Harry Kim entered the fray, & the rest is history [Kim becomes 2
term limit mayor 2000-2008, w/tremendous grassroots appeal].
3. Though Hollywood-handsome dynamite duo Tajiri & Roland Higashi are projected as
mirror images of each other, they are at opposite poles. Roland is not tyrant Scrub,
did not tell Tajiri to scram/get lost, but did support Herkes. Roland still reels from
Tajiri’s carpetbagger/opportunistic turncoat from Dem to GOP. That Herkes went from
GOP to Dem demonstrates to Roland that Herkes went from lord to vassal/for the little
guy/gal, which are up Roland’s alley [egalitarianism/altruism], not in reverse like Tajiri.
Yes, Tajiri is no Roland, who is true to Roland’s faith in the little guy/gal/common lot.
Roland never forgets that buddaheads like Roland’s businessman dad had to kowtow to
haole GOP to survive/stay afloat. Harvey forgot Harvey’s roots.
4. Ironically, the end result is really form over substance. Roland is centrist like GOP Lingle
& favors moderate solons like Ed Case, who seems DINO [Dem in name only][like ex-GOP
Herkes]. Nonetheless, Roland will die a Dem, not GOP [unlike fickle Tajiri & unlike
carpetbagger Harry Kim]. In spite of form over function, you gotta’ hand it to
Roland — Roland is for real/not a phony-carpetbagger. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Hung Wai Ching & Statehood
Few political pundits know the special mystique surrounding HW. Majority race AJAs were
] had set the stage via its utter sacrifices over
the barbs/velcro which prevented Stateside acceptance. Race/entry card was
the crucible, inasmuch Alaska’s acceptance into the Union removed subsidiary issues
of labor agitation/militancy [Alaska was a labor State] & geographical isolation [Alaska not
contiguous]. Jack Burns had the 100th/442nd/MIS Aces up his sleeves for JB’s
mentors LBJ/SRayburn [LBJ's kupuna/elder] to grant Statehood. JB confidante Scrub
Tanaka had 1sthand knowhow of the power equation in Congress. LBJ/SRayburn were
patriots [SW Mexican dynamics, not Deep South bigots], & never ever forgot our
442nd rescue of the Alamo ragtag Mex Lost Battallion. HW is the godfather of the
AJA samurais. By the time the 442nd rolled into combat 6/26/44, the 100th [again
HW's doing, that crazy Chinaman
the preceding 9 months. Yes, Brah’, the 100th gave birth to her child, the
442nd. HW planted the seed in the Mother Lode [AJA destiny/
calling]. And Nippon/Red Chinese observers gawked at this great, great birth.
Look at Tsukano’s feedback from Nipponese — AJA
gallantry/assimilation restored Nippon faith in America’s goodness/altruism. Thence
the tremendous rebuilding of post-war Japan. Look at Chou En Lai/Nixon ‘72.
HW’s positive legacy countered the Coolie stigma/White imperialism-colonialism. The
hilarious irony is that Mao used foils Koji Ariyoshi/Yasuki Arakaki to promote Commie-
nism. Mao’s commie-nism was a disaster [1966]. Mao couldn’t mess w/indefatigable warrior
HW. So Mao used foils Ariy-Arakaki. HW comes from same neck of woods as Sun Yet Sen. If
Statehood Joe Farrington had not died suddenly of a heart attack in 1954, Statehood might’ve
come even earlier than 1959, not later. Joe was the most popular solon on either side of
the Party fence, & had crested on post-war prosperity a la Ike/Taft [Joe was a Taft
GOP]. Workhorse/not showhorse Dem moderate Sen. boss Hayden & Dem House boss
Rayburn [who respected Joe's cabinet trinity of HW/100th icon Kats Kometani/MIS
icon Mas Marumoto] would’ve gotten Joe his Statehood template even sooner than
Jack Burns. I disagree w/Jack Burns’ son Jim, who understandably blindly promotes his
Papa Jack. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Hi Curtis,
I made a dash through your column and found it captivating. Your write about subjects that are of personal interest to me. The biographies and histories about your island folks are wonderful. I was surprised to see so much written on the early Mormon Church in Hawaii and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Warmest regards,
Kevin Steadman
February 4th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Respect often is gained via defeat, not victory [Charles Goodyear 1800-1860] –
1. Intrepid rubber guru Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped rubber mixed
w/nitric acid on a hot stove & discovered vulcanization. Despite his renown, Goodyear lived
& died in serious debt, & spent much time in debtors’ prisons in pursuit of his “impossible
dream” of marketing a rubber commodity. Ironically, Goodyear Tire is not connected w/him
at all but was named in honor of him in 1898, nearly 40 yrs. after his death. Sorry, no
royalties ensued. Goodyear sadly was relegated to deadbeat status thruout the 1800s.
Hell-torn years for him & his ever-suffering family. Yet today Goodyear is our larger than life
mythic hero. We would be in the “Stone Age” w/out rubber products.
2. Alexander Pope [1688-1744] is among the greatest of English poets ["to err is human,
to forgive is divine"], but his life was gravely affected by Pott’s disease [spinal TB], which
stunted his growth [4'6"], and by the anti-Catholic vitriole vs. his family. Yet, out of these
terrible adversities came the most beautiful verses. To this day, Pope’s couplets [verses]
are standard references — metaphysical/beyond compare.
3. Do you know that WWII 442nd’s Shiro Kashino earned a record 6 purple hearts, yet was
court-martialed/framed up for an onbase fistfight involving other ethnics? It wasn’t until
his buddies Bill Thompson & Sada Kubota led the battle to reverse his CM that Shiro was
vindicated. Sadly, Shiro died just before the reversal. Shikata ga nai/cannot be helped,
he always intoned. Quiet resignation. A real hero. Thank you, Bill/Sada, for recognizing
a great & patriotic American.
4. The 100th/442nd were deliberate race-segregated units. Yet, they became the
most decorated units in U.S. military history for their size/length of service. Military analysts
& historians chasten that the 442nd’s rescue of the Alamo Lost Battalion ranks among the
10 best fought land battles in the history of the U.S. Army. In the first week of April
1945, the 442nd’s 3rd Batt. broke the Gothic Line, forcing Germany’s retreat toward
the Po Valley & eventual total surrender in the first week of May 1945. In the
Pacific, Gen. Willoughby, the top intelligence officer under Gen. Douglas MacArthur,
said that the work of the all-AJA Military Intelligence Service [MIS] is credited for
shortening the Pacific War by 2 yrs. & saving a million lives. Ironically, all these
acts of patriotism from a segregated unit of silent but oh-so-strong soldiers. Fact is
stranger than fiction. The all-Nisei boys made up 60% of our Hawai`i soldiers in WWII
& suffered 80% of the casualties. Aloha, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Dr. Francis Wong 1919-1971 [died of cancer]
Nicknamed “Fonkey” [Fun Chung], mother Japanese, Francis’
dad had restaurant mauka/Puna corner of Kilauea/Mamo Sts.
[by Kaya cutlery]. Leadership is a strange quality, seemingly
innate in guys like Steere Noda 1892-1986, who started his
Asahi baseballers at age 13 [to fight boredom], & Fonkey, who
started his Wanderers club in 1933 at age 14 [to fight boredom].
Boys used to play “steal stone,” meaning boys from a designated
circle would steal stones in center of other circles protected
by other boys. Fonkey knew that after a while, kids would start
stoning each other, then stone businesses/homes/etc. Thence
Fonkey’s drive to create wholesome outlets for his gang.
Fonkey’s club came from the Mamo triangle site where
Mamo/Kilauea/Keawe Sts. intersect. Thought to be mostly Chinese/
Korean kids, Fonkey’s boys actually all kinds/classes
of ethnicities. This year marks the 77th anniversary of Fonkey’s
amazing club — Fonkey entered his boys into the P & R league
run by teachers [& couple] Toma Tasaki/Mew Soon Chock [Tai On's
older sis]. Fonkey’s Wanderers captured no less than 5 team titles
in hoops/VB/track just in their 1st 2 yrs. of play 1933-1935. Ah Pat
Chun as advisor helped the boys excel. Fonkey had that magical
quality that facilitates great altruism in others. Though Joe Ayala
was a moocher/gambler, Fonkey knew that Joe was a great
mentor/coach, & Fonkey made sure that Joe coached the young
rebellious kids, esp. in boxing, being that Joe himself was a former
boxing titlist. Joe absolutely worshipped Fonkey, as did icons Dickie
Furtado [yes, the all-around athlete]/Bill Hapai [yes, Judge Hapai's
ohana]/John Low [yes, restaurant Sun Sun Lau/Kow's family]/W.H.
Kalua [yes, swim stars]/Ed Ung [yes, Beans Afook's family]/&
ubiquitous Johnny Yuen [pronounced Yen], Tai On Chock’s wife
Laura’s oldest sib/only brother, born 1923, who went on to be Fonkey’s
key confidant. Johnny was BoHawaii’s Rudy Peterson’s/Bob Sasaki’s/
greatest enabler Jim Evans’ stalwart golden boy [moved from bottom up],
started 1941 till retirement 1988, w/WWII as rifleman 9th Div. 47th Inf.,
Distinguished Inf. citation/Bronze Star awardee.
Fonkey’s boys Allen Correa [yes, Jimmy's family]/Tony De Sa [yes,
renowned baseballers incl. Joey De Sa]/great hitter Al Toodie Souza
[USF HoF]/Bert Nakaji [Lincoln Wrecker who was told by Fonkey not
to jump fence over to Fonkey -- team first, not me first]/Tai On Chock
[also told by Fonkey to lead Piopio Bears -- to Fonkey, each guy had
to lead/mission something needed in a locality -- Bert at Lincoln Park/
Tai On at Hilo Center-Piopio St.]/Br. Duane Cockett [Fonkey supported
Catholic Church-school/Kazuma Hisanaga [Fonkey worshipped by Beans
Afook, & Kazuma was Beans' protege] — today’s crop Guy Enriques [yes,
solon 1st scholarship recipient of Fonkey's endowment 1972]/Glenn
Hashimoto [Pirate who crossed over to Fonkey]/Pete Kimi [yes, hotelier
family/baseballers Eric Kurosawa-Ted Sugai-Russ Ejima-Earl Wakakuwa-
Derek Shigematsu-Russ Goya [yes, Wrecker-Pirate crew]/Lee Hamora/
Dan Labasan/Rich Pascual/Bully Spencer/. Fonkey was
surgeon U.S. Army/Navy Medical Corps WWII/Korean War, Lt. Commander
Naval Reserve — just an amazing leader. Yes, the Ho`olulu stadium is
named after him. Johnny Yuen carries on Fonkey’s legacy/tradition of
altruism/quiet strength. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Outside infusion of ideas/action vital
Andy Wilson’s dad Bill, Shell Oil mgr., was benefactor/alter ego to
Tommy Kaulukukui in Waiakea. Pure haole, but aloha spirit is colorblind all the
way around. Milburn Gregory 1897-1966 WWI veteran out of Tex-Mex San
Antonio [a la Sam Rayburn/LBJ-- Hawai`i's greatest Statehood friends], came
to Hilo in 1937 as mgr. of Hawaii Motor Supply on Kam Ave. He immediately
joined up w/Dem Party’s Kanaka Johnny Wilson’s boys to rattle vs. GOP oligarchy.
I`iwipolena Lane’s Frank Serrao 1912-1986 [DLNR land agent located in old
County Bldg./Lt. Gov. under Oren Long 1951-1953 known as Sec. of the Territory]
& Kea`au Seiichi Morita 1907-1992 broke in Milburn to local politics. Leigh Hooley
1898-1982 was having a grand time dealing w/his militant former YMCA boys
who joined Dem Party like Dan Inouye born 1924. Luso pal Joe Fern 1872-1920 O’ahu
1st mayor died of diabetes & had Johnny Wilson 1871-1956 succeed him & carry
the torch of the common working man/woman Dem Party. By the time Wilson
became senile 1950, Taka Miyamoto 1897-1981/Herb Kum 1906-1993 took over
day-to-day mgmt. Lyman official John Beukema 1899-1984, whose Hilo Ctr.
[settlement complex--gym/etc.] along Kam Ave. like Milburn Gregory’s store,
was apolitical [Beukema of Springfield College was Kiyo Hamakawa's born 1929
inspiration to go to Springfield College, where Kiyo was hoops star & embraced
by Naismith HoF John Bunn/Bob Cousy]. NCAA godfather Bunn knew all about
Mandarin magician Ah Chew Goo born 1918 via HoF star player Hank Luisetti.
Myron Isherwood 1909-1984 married Muriel Lyman of Puna & was a great
sportsman/volunteer, but apolitical, as was Richard Nigga Tong 1912-1987,
as was Ruddy Tongg 1905-1988. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
“Did he [KIA] suffer?” —
My Dad Toshi 1913-1998 was the squad leader who told the parents/
families of 442 KIAs that their son did not suffer. My Dad vowed never
to have KIA families suffer anymore. My buddy Mel Gamayo born 1948
Vietnam special forces combat veteran, approached KIA elegy by
how much fact the family could handle, based on Mel’s eyeballing them.
W/vast TV-press coverage [Korean War was the last pre-TV war],
Mel was aware of outside truth-sourcing. If Mel felt that the family could
take the cold truth [almost never happened], Mel would say that amid the
unimaginable pain which the KIA suffered, Mel cradled his brother-in-arm
literally as a mother cradles her beautiful baby to comfort/love everlasting,
gently reassuring the KIA that everything’s gonna be all right, everything’s
gonna be all right, till the KIA draws his last breath. Sad, so sad. On the
other hand, if Mel felt that the family couldn’t take the cold truth, Mel would
omit any account of suffering. W/today’s cell phone camera technology,
the hell of war [per Union Gen. Sherman] is blasted before our very eyes.
Resume the draft/conscription! Our best deterrent to our own imperialism
[let's see rich/spoiled kids convoyed out to the line of fire -- ain't gonna
happen in Iraq/Afghanistan]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Schooling not gauge of life learning —
Auto tycoon/GM’s Jim Roche 1906-2004 never went to college because his dad
died young. Haberdasher hat-wearer Harry S. Truman never went to college,
yet he was the epitome of Common Sense [practical actions]. Schooling
is no gauge of intelligence. Jack Burns barely finished St. Louis High, & as
a 21 yr. old flunkie who mooched off his mama/drank like no tomorrow, &
smooched w/Army girls while showing off his hoops moves. Gang, there
is a heaven/hope springs eternal! My dad never even finished junior high.
But Dad would listen to merits/demerits of line-item veto over budget
appropriations [checks & balances/separation of power b/n executive/
legislative branch]. Though line-item veto used by most state governors
[who also choose not to release monies if legislators override governors'
veto], U.S. Supreme Court struck down Congressional authorization of
line item veto to President on ground that U.S. President [Clinton]
usurped legislative sovereignty/authority. Hell, there was no
high school for Scrub Tanaka 1915-2006 to attend! Asshole personality
Isamu Kanekuni born 1921 knows political science better than poli-sci
professors. It’s about passion/immersion, not diplomas. Nope,
Isamu never went to college. One common thing about the
foregoing self-educated men — they don’t waste their breath/
time tolerating small talk [who did you bump into at the
supermarket today? Did you have constipation this morning?].
You see distinctly the small talk noiseboxes — the minute they
get thrown off by your deflection of their nonsense, they
immediately clam up like indian wooden statue outside a saloon.
Because suddenly, focus is not on their silly topics anymore.
And then when they’re forced to speak substantively, their
pace of enunciation slows to a crawl — because it’s not about
them or their topic anymore — it’s about anything but them, which
disinterests these talking heads to da bone.
Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Never mind your opinion — just say he [KIA] was a real hero —
442 F Co. kotonk [Westminster CAL.] KIA/posthumous DSC Kazuo Masuda led a
3rd straight nightly recon when he was killed. Yuki Okutsu had refused to recon
3 nites in a row, because the Germans were waiting for our boys. Which is when
Kazu Masuda upped/went into death’s jaws. F Co.’s Wataru Kohashi muttered how
insane it was to have our boys go on a 3rd straight recon, w/the Germans knowing
we were coming. Wataru felt how utterly tragic it was for Kazuo to meet the Reaper.
Wataru said “Dis bugga’ like kill himself, or what?” Wataru’s earlier DSC was given to 1st
442 KIA Kiyoshi Muranaga, kotonk, which then was upgraded to MoH 8 yrs. ago.
So Wataru/MoH Yuki Okutsu knew what they were talking about. But “suicide
charger” Kazuo averted forcing another squad guy to meet the Reaper. Thanks to
Kazuo, another fella came home to live his life. Wataru was trying to avoid meeting
Kazuo’s kazoku/kin, but I told Wataru that eventually, they’d meet Wataru. So
just tell them Kazuo was a real/true hero, which he was!! Wataru candidly thought
Kazuo had a death wish [suicide charger]. I want to feel that Kazuo, like his
kamikaze mikado/ancestral kin, felt it his highest duty to give up his life willingly
for our U.S.A. End result — Kazuo was our everlasting hero!! Of course, Wataru
doesn’t have to lie to cover up Wataru’s feeling that Kazuo was dastardly reckless.
Wataru can just flat out refuse to talk about the war, period! But after 65 yrs.,
it’s about closure/completion for KIA families, not about Wataru. So be a sport,
be noble. Salve/comfort them. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Bringing Gospel to the masses –
William Tyndale 1494-1536 was burned at the stake for translating the Bible
into English, in defiance of Vatican Latin hegemony. Such absurdity would’ve
saddened Constantine I 272-337 A.D. 1st Roman Christian emperor, who was
transformed at the Battle of Milvian Bridge 312 A.D. when he saw the sign of
the Cross in the sky, & who proclaimed religious tolerance via his Edict of
Milan 313 A.D. Mystic Thomas A`Kempis 1380-1471 also would’ve been deeply
saddened by such malignant fear.
In intermediate school, Earl Nakasato born 1942 was accused by the cafeteria
monitor/teacher of not paying for his mid-morning cup of soup. When confronted
at the soup vat, Earl angrily threw his soup back into the vat. The vat had to be
thrown away. Such indifference/disregard/shortcoming by Earl transformed him
into the sensitive Christian he is today. When Earl fought w/peer at Nihon Gakko
School, Earl ran into the bushes when his dad 1914-1992 went to pick him up for
his expulsion. Earl never really made it up to his father. When Earl went off to
Ft. Ord, he spoke such thick pidgin that the airport courtesy matron asked if he
spoke English, rather than his foreign/mother tongue. Yes, domestic privacies per
Samuel Johnson which transformed Earl into our winged angel. Earl is such a loving/
forgiving person, he said it could’ve just as well have been him who gang raped Yang’s
girlfriend [Sansei honor student who no longer lives here] masterminded by Yang
himself [who later committed suicide -- drug addiction], including Butch Castro. Yes,
albeit as poetic justice laureate Alex Pope said, to err is human, to forgive is divine, swell-
headedness a half-century later reduxes Yang’s girlfriend as the almighty equalizer. I
know who she is & she ain’t a Dem Party faithful, that’s for sure. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Failure/rejection inspired Francis “Doc” Wong 1919-1971
Mamo St. [Times Square/Fort St. of Hilo] had its Chinese gang incl.
Ah Chew Goo/Ah Yet Wong [later M.D. on Maui]/Reggie Lau [Ralph Lau's
baby brother of Hily Dry Goods--martial artist Bernie Lau's stepfather]/
Ed & Robert Ung [Beans' baby brothers], all just a year or so older than
Fonkey Doc Wong. Doc Wong wanted in w/this gang, but was rejected
because Doc was younger than them, not that Doc was half-Japanese
[parents owned restaurant on SW corner of Mamo St.-Kilauea Ave./
parents rented apt. at 2 story Hale Nani Apts. off Butcher Lane off Kumu
St. that shows up in 1946 tsunami photos]. So instead of sulking, Doc
just goes & starts Doc’s own gang that became today’s incredible Wanderers.
Ah Chew got too renowned for Ah Yet Wong’s [no relation to Fonkey] gang
& joined Froggie Yoneda’s Lincoln Wreckers group. Eventually, Ah Yet’s
gang disbanded [after kids finished up schooling]. Yes, failure/rejection
resulted in the formation of Fonkey’s Wanderers club. Amazing — adversity
created positive opportunities. As it turned out, Ah Yet’s gang led w/air
about them [imperious], kind of like how buddaheads Ted Tsukiyama/Ed
Ichiyama are today [proud]. Doc Wong’s gang was grassroot/earthy/
compassionate/loving. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Leadership
Earl Finch died a broken man, in spirit/body. Where was the 442 leadership
to take care of our boys’ savior/messiah? Seiji Naya was brought here from
Japan by Hilo Uka’s Henry Oshiro born 1920, who coached our boxing team on
its jaunt to Japan, where Seiji was star boxer [Seiji actually Korean].
I asked Seiji directly why Seiji never showed gratitude to Henry [Waiakea-
Uka Camp 6 boxer/Pablo Chinen's bosom buddy], who got Earl Finch to
sponsor Seiji here. Seiji dismissed Henry as a guy w/PTSD. I told Seiji
that Seiji should respect Henry even more, being that Henry had such a
good heart to give Seiji a dream life in America [Seiji big whip/chief
economist-professor]. Seiji is for Seiji, just like the leftover crop of 442
boys still living [those born b/n 1920-1925 & replacements born 1925-
later]. Sheez … –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Veterans Day
The paradox of pacifism is that unless Americans are willing to die in battle to ensure our liberties,
a peacenik like Ron Fujiyoshi born 1940 won’t retain the right to be a pacifist, because the totalitarian
overlord won’t allow it. Which are why assimilation/Americanization as our Buffalo soldiers/442
demonstrate — respect one another/try to work with each other/appreciate our common themes/
comprehend our diverse upbringings — are necessary means to preserve our innate/unalienable freedoms.
Enjoy our Veterans Day every day we have freedoms. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
No re-nationalization, per McNarie’s HIJ article 12/29/07 –
Please read, if you will, Al McNarie’s insightful article on reforms needed,
including curb on land trusts via many smaller private landowners,
not re-nationalization of land [ergo sovereignty]. Pi`ihonua’s lease-to-
fee conversion is an excellent example for egalitarians to follow. Yes,
government’s invisible hand of moderation ennobles the smalltime
tenant, but such trickle-down reality is validated by judicial fiat
[no taking via gov't occurs; economic regs subject to rational basis test,
not strict scrutiny applicable to suspect classifications/fundamental
rights such as race/suffrage/etc.; no impairment of contract]. The
en masse lease-to-fee conversions on O`ahu can be
realized via government subsidies to tenants/tax breaks to owners,
all w/the goal of breaking up land trusts/cabals — utilitarianism –
the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Of course,
land ownership down to the simplest joe/jane entails penalties on
land/bldg. speculation adverse to the public good/interest. W/such
widespread “semi-socialist” impact comes the urban village efficiency
of concentrating communities closer/accessing vital services via
short distances. Or would we rather force our progeny to live
elsewhere [ergo Vegas/etc.]? Hard choices, but deeper social
good/realization. Auld lang syne, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Age chronology/respect for elders/pecking order —
Pre-WWII Navy at Pearl Harbor enabled contractor Walter Dillingham 1875-1963 to be
the most powerful link to the military, & thence Walter’s direct access to George
Marshall’s unity of command in the Pacific headed by Adm. Nimitz w/Gen. Delos Emmons
heading the Hawai`i region. FBI’s Bob Shivers 1894-1950 came to Hawai`i in August 1939
to determine what to do w/AJAs if Japan is at war w/the U.S. Shivers was given the cold
shoulder by Merchant St., which coattailed Naval power/presence. But UH godfather
Charley Hemenway 1875-1947 [same age as Walter Dillingham], albeit a Merchant St. icon,
became Shivers’ confidant & assured Shivers of AJA loyalty to the U.S., & Charles
eventually became the top local civilian link to the military/internal security. Hemenway
produced proteges Hung Wai Ching 1905-2002 & Shigeo Yoshida 1907-1986 [Hilo High's
greatest alumnus '26, though no one in Hilo today knows this], who averted mass
internment of buddaheads here. Compassionate Frank Atherton, missionary descendant,
a sickly child [always had empathy for society's have-nots] 1878-1945, Merchant St./
Big 5 godfather [Walter was not Merchant St., but harbor/rail line/transport boss-
overlord & thus the most powerful local civilian WWII-martial law], embraced Hemenway’s
racial diversity egalitarianism & became Hung Wai’s biggest financial backer, just as
Hemenway was Hung Wai’s combo spiritual/financial backer. Educator Yoshida became
Hemenway’s virtual father figure clone. But other than Dillingham’s Navy link, Hung
Wai became the most powerful teambuilder among the working class folks/grassroots,
even though Hung Wai thought himself a patrician/elitist, which is why ironically Hung
Wai couldn’t stand samurai talk/mentality, because aristocrat Hung Wai felt such
“low class” hegemonic topic beneath his dignity. Yet, Hung Wai was the greatest of
samurai, as it turned out! Yes, we’re all Jekyll/Hyde, & Hung Wai was no different.
What set him apart from everyone else was his irrevocable inner desire to see others
get a fair shake in life, albeit almost subconscious on his part. Like Hung Wai, Jack
Burns 1909-1975 wanted fair play, Burns emerging from tough Kalihi, Hung Wai from
shantytown Emmaville [where Dan Inouye born 1924 lived]. While Hung Wai advised
GOP kingpin Joe Farrington 1897-1954, Burns replaced the Old Order [after Joe's death
from a massive heart attack in 1954 while at the height of Joe's power] GOP oligarchs
w/non-haole new breed solons like kingmaker Dan Inouye, who himself is today’s crown
king. Burns resented Shivers’ oversight/authority WWII internal security [Burns was
police espionage head], because Shivers was an older mirror image of stoneface/stoic
Burns. Yes, Burns was defiant [Burns' dad deserted Burns/Mom/sibs when
Burns was 9 yrs. old]. Great friends of AJAs: Big Five/C&C Frank Midkiff born 1887
[son Bob born 1920]/protege sib John Midkiff born 1893 ]; indomitable educator Miles
Cary born 1895 [mentored McKinley High pupils such as Hung Wai's Class of 1924];
Ted Trent born 1905 [Haw'n Trust boss which was earlier directed by Hemenway]
[Ted's dad Dick Trent was the 1st elected finance head for O`ahu County/earliest
Dem Party leader]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
WWII Japan imperialism like an adolescent teen —
Oswald Spengler 1880-1936, though much criticized for his
fallacies on comparative history, offers at least a symbolic
description of culture, as an organism from birth to death.
Though he preceded Hirohito’s Japan imperialism, one can
postulate that industrial Japan was born out of
Commodore Perry’s black ships opening up Japan to the
world 1854, triggering Mutsuhito’s/Meiji’s rise to power
1868, resulting in modernization on an unprecedented
scale [thanks to industrial capitalist/internationalist Eiichi
Shibusawa, who at age 14 swam out to Perry's ships with
knife clenched in mouth ready to do battle vs. Perry].
Japan got swell-headed after its victories over Russia
1895 & China 1905, feeling itself invincible via militarism.
By the time whipper snapper Hirohito 1901-1989 ascended
to the throne upon his father’s death 1926, Hirohito was
ready to take on the world via imperialism/militarism,
with warlock Hideki Tojo his foil. Not thinking thru the
consequences of war vs. the Occident/U.S., Hirohito’s
colonialism [Manchuria iron-steel][China ancient turf
rights][Indochina rubber][Indonesia oil] was designed to
supply itself w/adequate resources to stand up to the
West/U.S. The U.S. embargo stiffened Hirohito’s resolve
to conquer Indonesia for its oil. Hirohito figured that by
“neutalizing” U.S. naval forces via the attack on Pearl
Harbor, this would give Japan about 6 months to capture
Indonesian oil resources to carry out a war of attrition vs.
the U.S. Admiral Yamamoto promoted this attack on Pearl
Harbor as a last ditch attempt for Japan to replenish its
materials/war supplies. Admiral Nagano was opposed to
this, knowing that no way could Japan defeat, much less
fight to a standoff, its daunting isolationist foe U.S.
Nagano promoted peaceful co-existence w/the U.S.
Nagano was a deep admirer of U.S. democracy/steeled
resolve [Revolutionary War/Civil War/WWI], & knew Japan
was no match for the U.S. Essentially, Hirohito’s
impudence/ingrate attitude did in Japan, just as an
impulsive adolescent figures he/she can conquer the
world. So what you have here is an older/wiser sage
U.S. teaching its younger subordinate a painful lesson
that eventually ended with Japan being but an appendage
of the U.S. politically/militarily. Japan’s only strength
is its industrialism [thanks to the Korean War where Japan
supplied its colonialist U.S. with munitions]. Oswald
February 4th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Oswald
Spengler would be proud to see Japan characterized as
an organism from birth to deserved death. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
“A man after God’s own heart” 1 Samuel 13:13-14
Okie [Oklahoma] native Dean Edmoundson [owns Honomu's former Ishigo Bakery/
food/sundry store w/Honomu native-wife June Hanashiro; both born 1946] wants his
epitaph, if at all, to quote Scripture, “A man after God’s own heart,” w/God describing
David’s mission [that pleases God thru God's Word]. Dean rooted in migratory farm
workers, w/Scot Dad who didn’t read/write, but Mom Bertha Bryan Edmoundson [Irish]
touchstoned Scripture as the family’s solid rock of survival. Both Dean/wife June met
in college, & June converted from Buddhist to Pentecostal Christian 40 yrs. ago.
Oral Roberts once told Dean the story of prayer/faith — Oral told a seminary student
“Pray for me.” Student didn’t have confidence & prayed for himself, not Oral. Oral
told student that Jesus picks anyone, high/low, rich/poor, as vehicles for salvation.
Oral told student it’s not about the student, but about Jesus. To which the student
prayed for Oral. It’s not about Oral, it’s about faith in Jesus, not faith in oneself
or others. As applied [Dean bosom buddy of my hero Roy Kim born 1946], parishioner
asked Dean to pray for her. Dean was so tired he half-heartedly did so. She suddenly
livened up like a fresh daisy. Which taught Dean that it’s not about Dean, it’s about
Jesus. That no matter Dean’s mental/emotional condition, the parishioner was freshened
by Jesus, not half-hearted Dean. So Dean took the lesson then on to feel “I’m always
ready for prayer!” Dean’s strength of faith in Jesus, no matter Dean’s condition/state
of mind. See, gang, it’s about eternal optimism/positive attitude. Guys like Dean are
strengthened by faith, not in themselves, but in a higher embodiment, in Dean’s case,
in Jesus. And thereby Dean is enriched w/fervor/energy of selfless giving/service to
others. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Why does the Big Island have the largest proportion of Japanese residents?? Because the sugar plantations were located on our huge island, and the workers were Japanese. Just in 1898, Hilo had nearly 20 Issei/immigrant merchant stores. While many of the earliest Japanese immigrants were able to return to Japan, those later arrivals eventually resigned themselves to settle permanently in Hawai’i. Hole-hole pathos tunes [Haw'n term for dried cane leaves] decried the horrid working/living conditions of our earliest immigrants. Franklin Odo born 1939 is an expert on hole-hole bushi songs, which originated in southern Japan. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
The Organic Act/Territory of Hawai’i ended the nefarious contract labor system [violation of U.S. 13th Amdt. against slavery], at which point freed Japanese Issei/immigrant laborers engaged in a mass exodus to California, which then entailed recruiting Filipino laborers 1906. Of course, the increased kotonk/Stateside Japanese population resulted in the 1908 Root-Takahira edict barring further immigration of Japanese. The permanent resident mentality of the post-1900 Issei immigrants resulted in Japan itself taking a hands-off approach to U.S. domestic issues vs. Issei, especially amid the 1909 & 1920 sugar strikes, and amid the language school controversy. Nonetheless, our transformation from migratory sojourners to permanent residents resulted in picture brides to start families, which brought immense stability to the early Issei community. Slip-shod living as single men no longer was the norm. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Of course, Englishman Henry Greenwell first cultivated coffee in Kona 1850, but the Japanese immigrant/Issei sugar plantation escapees took cultivation to unheard of heights starting just after 1890. These individualists had children who became our greatest leaders, unlike our communal-mentality plantation laborers. Of course, our Hilo Sa-ke Co. in 1913 resulted from our staunch East Hawai’i individualists who were shin issei/newly arrived immigrants, not tethered to master-servant labor contracts pre-1900, such as our Kona escapees who created our burgeoning Kona coffee [best in the world for Kona's elevation-climate] industry pre-1900. Prohibition 1919-1933 stopped Sa-ke production, which then resumed in 1937 in Hilo with the same principals, albeit aged Issei. Of course, Sa-ke is from rice, but rice farming in Hawai’i was outdone by cheaper California rice production, though Hanalei Issei continued to grow rice on a limited scale. Soy results in shoyu/miso/tofu, but soy bean production here always was outdone by Stateside Midwest mega-farms, in tandem w/maize-wheat. Do you know that Japan’s ancient staples rice/soy are imported via U.S. agri-cabals? Hilo’s own Grif Frost is our Sa-ke/rice expert. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Japan is resistant to GMO products because of Japan’s homogenous culture that expects everything to be pure, as in master race pure blood hegemony long extant in Japan culture. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Today is the tomorrow you worried about
yesterday. Was it worth it?- Ghandi
February 4th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Lingle’s egocentrism —
Awana is Lingle’s John Garfield, image/projection
are everything — Awana bullies via his Nanakuli
backdrop [though St. Louis High '64, no college degree]
a la earlier Roland Higashi [who has since matured into
a consensus-builder], which titillates Lingle [bad boy
persona], which is what turns off real deal GOPs
like Shin [who got her USDA job via Marumoto, despite
jealous Lingle's opposition] & Lam [who didn't make a land
sale for a whole yr. because she gave her life to Lingle '98
campaign --Lingle lost only by 5,000 votes Statewide
to Cayetano but won the Big Island, unprecedented].
No, gang, it’s the other way around. Lingle is not the
real deal GOP, Lam is! Ted Hong
wonders where is Lam today? When Lingle/Awana were asked
this, neither commented. Who is real?? Lingle fractured her
GOP. Statehood Joe Farrington 1897-1954 revitalized his GOP
w/immigrants’ children of voting age. Night/day b/n Joe/Lingle.
Bill Quinn 1919-2006 was boneheaded like Lingle, which
resulted in GOP’s demise. Quinn was Awana/Lingle combined —
total monoshiri/conceited. Twiddle dum, twiddle dee. Dems
Gerald De Mello/Larry Balberde love
themselves too much, just like Lingle/Awana/Quinn.
Statehood Joe Farrington, you smile w/good pride over Shin/Lam.
Lovely, baby. I told Lam that her ass’n w/her uncle Square
Nishimura hurt her badly, because to Dems she is a turncoat.
Reality is that Square was but a Tom Cunningham Dem
[Tom was noisebox turn-off for AJAs, who saw Tom as
turncoat -- switcheroo]. Square, like his son
Al 1928-2007, was not a true Dem. Al was an Ariyoshi Dem,
nothing more. Nothing deep/noble about Square/Al.
Nor about George’s liaison Howard Mimaki, another
Bill Kikuchi ad-man/noisebox. But Lam, now here’s my
real deal GOP! We’re Sansei children of Nisei GOP.
Where’s Merle? Living real life, not concocting false imagery
a la purported GOP Lingle/DEM De Mello. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
And the pharisees told Pilate to write, “I, Jesus, am King of the Jews”
Roman Pontius Pilate said to the pharisees, “I find no fault in Jesus.”
The pharisees said, “Jesus ought to die, because he made himself the
son of God. It is said that Jesus is king of the Jews. We have no king
but Caesar. Crucify Jesus now!” Pilate wrote a title and put it on the
cross. It said, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The pharisees
protested, exhorting Pilate to write, “I, Jesus, am king of the Jews.”
Pilate refused to change the title. And the pharisees said, “Jesus died
by our law, because he made himself the Son of God. Whosoever maketh
himself king, son of God, speaketh against Caesar!” Jesus was betrayed
by his own people, the learned erudite pharisees. John 18 & 19 –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Hung Wai Ching’s bipartisan springwell 1905-2002
GOP Sen. Hiram Fong appoints Hung Wai to prestigious U.S. Postal Bd. of Govs, seconded
by Dems Inouye/Matsunaga [Hiram also appointed law p/n Choy to U.S. 9th Cir. Ct. App.].
Sec. Defense/VP vetted Mel Laird sucks up to Hung Wai [Mel on Readers
Digest payroll -- cheaper bulk rates]. Hung Wai laughingly asks Laird, “Yeah, what’s in it
for me?!” Laird goes into shock. No deal is struck. Hung Wai a good man. How good?
Hung Wai laughingly asks Chicago’s chief postmaster, “Do you employ any chinamen?”
Postmaster apoplectic, gives Hung Wai a blank look [shock]. Hung Wai laughs. Yes,
Hung Wai got approached by Laird at D.C.’s Burning Tree Country Club [Hung Wai went
to D.C. monthly]. Hung Wai is Dan Inouye’s alter ego, but Hung Wai goes to Ben
Dillingham’s cocktail parties [when Ben ran for U.S. Senate vs. Inouye '62] because
Hung Wai pals w/oligarchs, but more crucially, Hung Wai loved Ben’s wife’s ono martinis!. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Korose-nasai [rest/moderation] vs. yamakawasan [fight]
Takie Okumura/Yasutaro Soga personified incremental/measured social change.
KingLit Ching personifies laureate Langston Hughes: “I tire of hearing people say
‘let things take their course, tomorrow is another day.’ I do not need my freedom
when I’m dead, I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.” — “Democracy.” Or, as Sir
Albert Burton said, “I’m hurt, but not slain, I’ll lay me down & bleed awhile, & then
I’ll fight again.” Yes, korose-nasai [moderate] or yamakawasan [fight]?
Assimilationists Okumura/Soga advocated baby steps. Erroll Flynn look-alike KingLit
exhorts carpe diem for the have-nots of society. Actually, our pidgin Nippon of
yamakawasan signifies a grumbler/negative person/domineering jerk. Not used here
in these ways, but to elucidate rightness of spirit/heart. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Year of Jubilee [self-determination/destiny] —
Yes, Papal bulls/edicts colonized indigenous peoples, just as Imperial Japan’s State Shinto
lorded over UCC, who reel back to this day over Christian complicity w/Hito’s regime [only
courageous nonconformists Holiness evangelists/Marxists defied Hito]. Church hegemony
over State [Papal authority]/State hegemony over church [Imperial Japan] deny equal footing
to either governance, & extraterritoriality/imperialism are the results. Which is why Leviticus
25 is so essential to level such autocracies. Old Testament’s Year of Jubilee summons us to prepare
land for nourishment/forgive debts/release peonage/return-reclaim land to native peoples.
“Mada mada na” — Nippon for colonizers just “don’t get it” — that rebellion shall ensue
w/out Jubilee [Muslim extremists, you're not gonna colonize democratic peoples]. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Irrepressible John Young 1902-1990
Ted Tsukiyama did the interview of a lifetime, & then forgot about it!! Aging?
John Young credits Frank Atherton/Bill Westervelt for being the haole good guys
who did tons for our down-&-out. Young says that Young’s ole’ country Scot
dad disowned Young after Young came to Hawai`i to be among the Chinks/
teeming masses! In 1945 Young got invited to the Kaua`i Rotary Club as its
newest member & former Japan resident Young promptly questioned the
bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, upon which the Rotary Club dumped him. Dan Inouye
wrote Young 4 times a year, because Inouye considered Young to be Inouye’s 2nd father.
Young credited prior YMCA head Lloyd R. Killam w/inspiring Young to uplift the teeming
masses, Killam arriving here in 1912. Killam told Young to stay away from the hardcore
haoles who despised the downtrodden, & to work w/good guys Atherton/Westervelt.
Yes, “Tsook” did the interview for all eternity, only promptly to forget about it!! Yikes!!
Again, Union Theological Seminary -Young got his M.A. from later alumnus HW’s school.
Young died w/n 3 yrs. of this extraordinary interview. To “Tsook,” thank you everlasting!
Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Dem Party fence-sitters 2008 a la Ariyoshi 1963 —
George “okage sama de” ["indebted to Issei immigrant parents"] loves
buzzwords like his moniker sama [kindness], but is a wordsmith on
artifice. When George sat the fence on Dem Maryland Land Bill [lease-
to-fee conversion to bust land-rich chokehold cabals], George’s
sorry-ass excuse was that the Bill created 2 unfair classes of
lessees — short-term & long-term. George should’ve just said that
George is afraid of Bishop Estate, the hand which feeds him, just
as George’s later boss Jack Burns wimped out vs. Bishop Estate.
Thankfully, fighting Catholic John Hulten crusaded to beat Bishop
Estate. Kaz Abe really socked it to George when Abe told George
to sit down after George double-talked over nothing on the
Senate floor.
Dem fence-sitters over Obama/Clinton today do the Party no
good. Party Chair Dean should tell the undecideds to make up
their minds/declare their choice for the sake of the Party,
instead of prolonging the Obama/Clinton race for the sake of
their own ambition/opportunism. Hillary’s knock vs. Obama’s
lack of patriotism plays right into McCain’s hands, just as
Obama’s knock vs. Hillary’s lie over the Bosnia airport issue
plays right into McCain’s hands. Mutual destruction which
benefits McCain. Isamu Kanekuni feels that Obama has
more integrity than Hillary, & supports Obama. –Curt [written before Nov. 2008 election]
February 4th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Our Democratic Party does not have the political will to accomodate
freshlets like Ted Hong. Sparky Matsunaga personified inclusion/welcome wagon.
Strident/asshole Dan Inouye, no matter how much he postures otherwise, is no
peacemaker. Let’s remember that age chronology also reveals our destiny.
Sparky was born in 1916 [my Dad's "accomodationist" generation pre-1920
born buddaheads]. Militant Dan was born in 1924 [post-1920 boneheads
like Ted Tsukiyama/Isamu Kanekuni][Scrub Tanaka born 1915 never lived down
his pro-mgmt. muscle job & forever atoned via support of young punk Nisei].
But even Scrub respected GOP/haole overlords, despite Scrub’s repentance over
Scrub’s brother’s shooting of a Honoka`a Sugar Mill laborer. Drawstring of
1920? Schooling — post-1920 born Nisei were able to finish high school,
inasmuch unaffordable public high school tuition fees were dropped by
Oligarch Dept. of Public Instruction after 1933 via growing pressure from
voting-age citizens-native-born children of immigrants. Thence “fearless
flagrants” like Inouye/Tsukiyama/Kanekuni. DPI’s new boss Oren Long
1934-1946 [outcast Kansas Granger boy, later U.S. Sen.] catalyzed inclusion.
Essentially, Inouye’s ganko/stubborn coterie are Clement Atlee 1883-1967 socialists
who nationalize major industries/public utilities, whereas my Dad’s generation is
like Margaret Thatcher who deregulates where business/commerce intercede.
Yes, we’re closer today to Atlee’s mentality . Paradox is that communists edge
closer to Thatcher/capitalism-free enterprise. And you know what happened to
Atlee’s program. It self-destructed because individual incentive disappeared. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Rise of the middle class in Red China?
Tai On Chock’s 1927-2001 wife Laura born 1927 [Punti merchant class] just returned from Red China, where
she saw no middle class, just rich capitalists & hard-life agrarian farmers. Will Deng Xiaoping’s progeny herald a
peaceful rise of the middle class/urbanization? Urbanization/upward mobility are inevitable where capitalism
takes
hold. In Hawai`i, 2-tiered class system of rich/poor would have resulted in revolt of the masses had our Big 5
not enabled our American Dream via education & benevolent paternalism [housing/health care/recreation].
Paradoxically,, Hawaiians under Lili`u were repressed vs. under U.S. governance, where Hawaiian middle class
flourished [Heen/Trask], our immigrant progeny’s marginalizers being Heen/Trask, who thwarted our upward
mobility. As you saw w/Disraeli/England a century before, our Big 5 actuated our rise into prosperity via
sponsorship/schooling/beneficence [enablers Castle/Cooke/Atherton/Baldwin]. In fact, magnificent altruist
Frank Atherton recruited Springfield Mass. haole educators John Young/Leigh Hooley to level the playing field
for our immigrants/progeny [Nu`uanu Y/Nu`uanu Church]. Just as Hilo’s Lymans got Springfield’s John
Beukema
to uplift struggling ethnics along Hilo Bay [Shinmachi/Piopio/Kimiville/Butcher Lane]. Our women wayfinders
were extraordinary [Ragna Rath/Mabel Smyth/Jean Hartley]. Today’s Denise Takashima carries on such selfless
endeavors. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Gov. Jack Burns 1962-1974 the fullness of time –
True, the boom years 1959-1973 post-Statehood catapulted Burns into super-
stardom. But Burns’ spiritual hold on locals extended way beyond the fortuitous
economic spike of his tenure. Had the all-Japanese Gov./Lt. Gov. ticket
fiasco [Hirono/Matsunaga] 2002 not resulted, Burns’ spell would’ve stretched
well into the 21st century. The fullness of time, the crossroad of destiny.
Burns the source of a new social order — cultural pluralism. Deeply religious
Burns’ fullness of time is Biblical. Ephesians 1:9-10. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Eric Shinseki’s creed — Team first, not me first
Eric’s inspirations: “Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but beggared is
the nation that does have heroes but yet forgets about them.” “I know that
when I die, I will die a free man, not on my knees, and with my head up, not
down.”
Eric reminds me of Buddhist rimban/minister Shin Akita, w/steeped inner strength
& ascetic/oroku qualities — Eric has a great sense of history, & always has a
442 memento/keepsake in the backdrop of his photo ops. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Benevolent paternalism? No! –
1. Why is not Castle & Cooke/Big Five godfather Frank Atherton
a patronizing haole supremacist? Because Frank never forgot Biblical Samaritans which
espoused ethnic tolerance. Frank’s Castle & Cooke forebearers/ancestors were the
Congregational missionaries. Although militant buddaheads [boboras born after 1920]
like Ted Tsukiyama/Dan Inouye deplore Big Five haoles, point is that upward mobility is
not all our own doing. Why is ubiquitous Rev. Frank Chong named in
honor of Frank Atherton? Because dad Rev. Kim On Chong [hakka/rural bumpkin
from North Kohala's mountains], peer of McKinley High legends Gladys Brandt/Hung Wai
Ching/Hiram Fong/Chinn Ho/Mas Marumoto/etc., was mentored/nurtured/hanai’d by
Frank Atherton himself! Yes, back to Nu`uanu’s Community Church/Congregationalist
Chinese! Both Chongs studied under omniscience of NY Union Theological Seminary’s
scholars/educators. Remember that the Hakka were mistreated by the urban Punti, just
like how Atherton’s dark Samaritans were ostracized by their pure blood brothers. You
won’t get a confession/atonement out of Honolulu Punti, but these urbanites frown upon
the unclean Hakka like the Chongs. This is why the Chongs and other Hakka
overachieved to escape their repressed intra-Chinese caste society!!
2. Believe it or not, the Punti customarily were called the real/pure Chinese, the Hakka being
stigmatized as the nefarious ones! Compassionate/nurturant Frank Atherton was no fool.
He saw these all! Remember that his family facilitated Sun Yat Sen’s overthrow of China’s
Old Order/caste system, of Syngman Rhee’s adoption of Jefferson’s life/liberty/pursuit of
happiness trinity, of the great renaissance nerve center, Japan’s Doshisha University/etc.
Remember that Asian arc/region mythic mentor Jose Mercado Rizal, PI godfather/reformist
who became a martyr to freedom/democracy, was heavily influenced by Samaritans &
the Congregational creed of everybody’s equal! Rizal’s proteges included Sun Yat Sen/
Syngman Rhee/Mahatma Gandhi/etc. Do you know that the written word/literacy rates
enabled by Congregationalists exceeded all other regions, even much of our own U.S.?
3. Yes, it is w/this backdrop that haoles go home! is but a misnomer. Haoles stay is apt!
Look at Frank Chong’s 1944-2008 cousin Anson Chong 1938-2008, whose dad Lt. Col.
Kim Nan Chong is Rev. Kim On Chong’s brother. Auspicious foreign services economist
Anson was sponsored by Kohala Bond Plantation boss Atherton Richards [Bond/Atherton
all family] for Anson’s Punahou/etc. education. Anson is spiritually indebted to Richards &
regards anti-haole prejudice as incendiary fear. For every example of haole repression vs.
common folk, there is a counterweight of haole liberation. Like how you weigh risk vs.
reward. Weigh risk, also weigh reward. Not former w/out latter. As an aside, Anson was
the people’s champ solon 1972-1980, & it took only 5 senators to question majority rule
[Anson/TC Yim/Dickie Wong/Joe Kuroda/Dante Carpenter], ergo, to stop the Old Guard
[Senate prexy John Ushijima] from controlling all the power/money appropriations/CIP/etc.
Anson has no regrets/grief over the young turks upending/unseating the Old Guard.
But Anson’s bloc repudiation caused his re-election losses in his conservative district.
Ironically, had Uwaine/Ross Segawa/Brian Minaai/etc. stayed away from the residency
requirement issue, it’s likely that Anson would’ve been elected senator again. Cse la vie.
Shikata ga nai. Do you know that Anson & our beloved deacon Earl Nakasato look like
twins? Hollywood-handsome till this day! And that both hombres have virtually mirror-
image backdrops [MS in economics/etc.]? Of course, the only digression is that Anson
ended up w/the Foreign Service & Earl ended up a laborer advocate/lawyer [labor law].
No, not the money train big union official payroll guys you see in the media all the time.
Earl is grassroots all the way — like Anson. Love, –Curt
PS: Fear begets fear globally. Old Testament Moses led his people, God’s chosen ones.
So-called other Arabs/unwashed-unclean ones, were God-forsaken. Jesus later came
around, preaching ethnic tolerance, but it was too late. After that, so-called Arabs
would not buy Catholicism’s so-called false idolatry of Jesus on the cross. By the time
Islam came around, the youngest kid on the block [600 yrs. after Jesus], fear was cemented
to date. When the State of Israel was carved out of Muslim territory, Muslim extremists
grew exponentially. Yes, fear begets more fear. State of our society today. Calamitous. -Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Jimmy Kealoha 1908-1983 [GOP Lt. Gov. 1959-1962]
1. GOP Bill Quinn’s biggest asset in Quinn’s Statehood Gov. win was Quinn’s popular Lt. Gov.
Jimmy Kealoha, who left as Big Isle Chairman/mayor to join Quinn. Kealoha intimated/
confided to businessman friend/Kam Ave. neighbor Norman Tsuji that Kealoha was
ignored by Quinn thruout Kealoha’s Lt. Gov. tenure 1959-1962. No, Quinn did not
promise Kealoha that Quinn would step aside in 1962 to allow Kealoha to run for Gov.
Quinn left the door open for political events to unfold/unveil come 1962, 3 yrs.
hence from Kealoha’s boost to Quinn’s 1959 Gov. campaign. Quinn had
the option to run for U.S. Senate in 1962, not to mention the U.S. House. Nonetheless,
the incessant internal bickering between Kealoha/Quinn had purged Kealoha of positive
top billing/needed press-media publicity to wage a powerful campaign in 1962. Still,
Kealoha’s remnant charisma forced a close loss to Quinn in the 1962 GOP Gov. primary,
losing only by less than 11,000 votes. Quinn’s Big Isle dynamite duo precocious campaigners
Bobby Fujimoto/Glenn Oda know nothing of a purported promise made by Quinn to step
aside come 1962. Kealoha’s only patronage concession by Gov. Quinn was relocating Judge Al Felix to Hilo from O’ahu, where Felix was persona non grata by our Bar Ass’n [cronyism in appointing officials].
2. As Ed Case should’ve done more of by quoting reputable sourceTime Magazine
on Sen. Akaka’s dismal Senate record, Bob Oshiro’s brainchild–the bad press on Gov.
Quinn’s failed Second Mahele pie-in-the-sky fairy tale–resulted in Jack Burns’ landslide win
over Quinn in 1962. In retrospect, Bill Quinn’s strength was his great Irish earthiness — he
had a wonderful tenor/vocal which amplified his popularity. Quinn’s
undoing is his failure of leadership — dense-as-plaster Quinn, despite his Harvard credential,
picked a whole new slate of administration employees upon Statehood, yet sunk abysmally
in 1962. Point being Where on earth
were Quinn’s 550 “numbskulls” come election campaign time 1962??? Worse than
naive — plain folly –this is Quinn. Contrary to press cliche, Quinn flubbed in the apolitical
boardrooms/peer relations — Quinn never once asked for sage Sen. Hiram Fong’s
advice/wisdom. Bonehead like Ed Case. Nonetheless, Quinn’s aloha spirit/moderate
GOP stance presaged GOP Linda Lingle’s win in 2002, a 40 year break between Statehood’s
2 GOP Govs, Quinn/Lingle. Neither Bobby nor Glenn [Quinn's Big Isle reps] marks Quinn’s
dual downsides [strategy/patronage failures from dense thinking]. As America’s greatest
folklore writer Mark Twain said, “I never let schooling get in the way of my education.”
This from an otherwise “degenerate” [Twain] who suffered thru repeated business/
personal failures. We’re all Jekyl/Hyde, all sinners. Quinn was a lovable/loving sinner.
Look at what was supposed to be a Quinn slam dunk win, the 1962 Gov. Quinn/Dem foe
Jack Burns TV debate — wily/cagey Burns, bestowed w/steeped ILWU labor strike life
experiences, won the debate before it even started — the format required the 2 debaters
to query each other — Jack KO’d Quinn w/Jack’s 1st question to Quinn — “What will you do
in the event of a major labor strike [which will cripple our infrastructure/economy/people]?”
Quinn babbled indecisively. “Unschooled/non-college” candidate Burns neutralized Quinn
by sheer force of latent leadership, Burns’ pseudonym for “thinking on your feet–executing
masterfully!” Press cliches “just don’t cut the cake to appreciate the richness inside [of
politics/social history]!!” Quinn was simply too full of himself/conceited.
3. Do what Bob Oshiro does to get the inside scoop/dope — ask intelligent questions to no
end — you’ll be amazed at revelatory answers. In this sense, I gotta pay homage to
understated long-forgotten political guru Dan Tuttle. Dan the interviewer often knew
more than the person being interviewed. But the point is that the news source/answerer
may be more revelatory if Dan is more akamai/one step ahead in Dan’s interrogatory.
Just like the Burns/Quinn debate in 1962! Yes, Dan Tuttle is just the news gatherer, not
the news source. And he’s not even a scribe! A student of politics, erstwhile/ever-in-awe
of historymakers. Tuttle/Oshiro — numbers/stats guys who see the global picture, not a
Quinn. Yikes! — why Dan Tuttle enamors of Nelson Doi is beyond me — Dan always urged
to know what Nelson is up to these days [nothing]. Nel– all armor, no tact. Actual answer
to Dan’s titillation re: Nel — Nel is good copy/ink no matter what Nel talks about — ergo,
Dan loves Quixote/windmills.
4. And in highest praise of the saloon industry [Johnny Waimea Dias Souza had his great saloon
tavern on Mamane St. in the heart of Honoka`a village], w/tongue-in-cheek– I bow mightily
to Bob Oshiro’s unspoken guru, sleepy Wahiawa village saloon keeper/haole Earl Sturdyvin,
who taught obscure/incognito Oshiro the tricks of the political trade. Amazing grassroots
education. Ph.D. not required. Closer — just bought booklet for $1.00 called “Straight-up
from Jimmy the Bartender — he may be just a bartender, but Jimmy has more horse sense
than any psychologist or therapist will ever have!” Oh boy!! Happy trails to you, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Homestead laws directly benefitted Luso families —
1. The Kingdom of Hawai`i allowed aliens to acquire ag lands per equitable distribution of
land ownership, among the rarest codes globally. As reference, the 1884 Homestead
Act provided 20 newly arrived Luso w/fee simple ownership. The liberal Kingdom code
was similar to the U.S. 1862 Homestead Act which opened up vast tracts of fallow
land for cultivation, although the first Kingdom law allowing alien land ownership was
enacted in 1850.
2. The 1900 Organic Act which established the U.S. Territory of Hawai`i provided a formula
for residents to petition for homesteads, and
the land commissioner was instructed to “expeditiously survey and open for settlement”
such lands. Substantial tracts of government land under lease to the sugar industry
came up for renewal after WWI, which resulted in resident petitions for ownership, which
then resulted in lands available for ownership by the little guy/gal as required by the
Homestead Act. And these are how our Souzas acquired their vast acreages.
3. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s Interior Secretary Franklin Lane even visited Hawai`i
in 1918 and, after meeting w/homesteaders from Honoka`a to Hilo, pronounced in
classic homespun Jacksonian Democrat fashion, “This part of our common country should
give an opportunity to the man of capacity and energy to secure a home for himself, a
home off which he can earn his own living, a home in which self-respect will be developed
out of which can come sound judgments as to the welfare of this Nation.” Heady
stuff for small village folks from Honoka`a. But the purest template of grassroot
representation/participatory democracy. Out of this primal cauldron emerged
our Souza gentry estates.
4. As history apostles Lorna Pacheco/David Figueira well know, our Girardo Ferreira catalyzed
our homestead homily in Ahualoa before our Souza acquisitions, & willed/devised via
probate his homesteads to his daughters & son Vasco. Inasmuch his daughters’ husbands
were well-heeled w/their own vocations [educator/foreman/blacksmith/meat cutter],
& Vasco was a field supervisor, Girardo’s filhas/filho [kids] liquidated their holdings.
5. I dedicate/bear testimony of my research/investigation in memory of
George Dias Souza [1913-1989], and Dorothy Vasconcellos Souza [1920-1997],
the greatest inspirers of Luso history in my opinion. I also thank Lorna Pacheco for her
irrevocable/intrepid resolve to search deep/afar for the answers to our ancestry/past.
Passo a passo [step by step] we climb to touch divinity… Amor, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Luso enablers of upward mobility –
Joe Pao/Jim Ferry/J.B. Fernandes were passionate supporters of buddaheads/AJAs. G.F. Affonso
is the longtime Advertiser scribe & best-known Luso literata. He hails from Honoka`a. G.F.’s son
Godfrey was an early thinktank w/Kailua O`ahu liquor store owner Jack Burns [later Dem
Gov.]. O`ahu’s 1st mayor Joe Fern Dem 1909-1920 was racial pluralist-diversity. Native
sons all, grassroots to a fault. Amazing men. P.S. Could G.F. Affonso be our kin? He is Ferreira
from Funchal like our Girardo Ferreira. BTW, the world’s best-ever basketball player Ah Chew
Goo’s father is from Honoka`a. As you know, all-world Luso hoopster Red Rocha [longtime NBA
all-star player/coach] calls Ah Chew the greatest-ever passing guard. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Tennis’ Michael Chang symbolic of Chinese individualist –
Had Michael Chang come from Hawai`i, he’d be our best-ever male tennis pro. Chinese here
excel in individual accomplishments [professions like medicine/business/engineering][sports
like tennis/golf/figure skating]. Chinese came as individualists even as immigrant cane
workers starting in 1850, whereas other Asian immigrants came as intact groups [from
geographical districts] starting w/Japanese in 1885. Being individualists/squeaky-tight
austerity-thriftiness, Chinese followed the money & were adept at business
entrepreneurship.
Japanese were more groupies & embarked on wayfinds collectively [tanomoshi-collective
capitalization]. More from outside repression than cultural inheritance, our Uchinanchu/
Okinawans were treated harshest by their own Naichi/Mainland Japan emigrants, who
considered these southern duskies as subhuman. Adversity/garrison mentality resulted
in Uchinanchu cohesion/tight bonds [analogously, geopolitical Oroku passed on frugality
to ensure survival of its members]. Puerto Ricans/Koreans/Pinoys also had team-first
beginnings, but especially swarthy Puerto Ricans/Pinoys had harshest treatment from overall
class hegemony here, being the latest dusky newcomers a century ago. I cannot say
race hegemony, because our snow-white Luso/Portuguese were haole in complexion but
still relegated to menial labor by their fellow Caucasian/WASPs. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Alex Hume Ford 1868-1945 “Hands Across the Pacific” 1st internationalist/
surfing revivalist —
Alex Hume Ford started Hands Across the Pacific in 1911, later picked up
by internationalists Frank Atherton-Bill Westervelt-Charles Hemenway.
Coincidentally, Ford started our Outrigger Canoe Club 1908 to “make
Waikiki always the Home of the Surfer.” Duke Kahanamoku was not the
1st ambassador of surfing here. It was Ford’s buddy George Freeth 1884-
1919 [died of flu epidemic after winter rescue effort], half-Hawaiian/Irish
dad, famous for surfing on his head, & for teaching Jack London to surf
[along w/pal Ford]. London said of Freeth, “He is a Mercury, a brown
Mercury! His heels are winged, & in them is the swiftness of the sea.”
Freeth became California industrialist Henry Huntington’s literal golden
boy 1907, popularizing namesake Huntington Beach [Freeth known as the
"man who walks on water"] & opening Huntington’s Redondo-LA Railway. -Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Pearl Harbor bombing — Japan consulate list —
Army G-2 [Intelligence section]/FBI rolled out Japan consulate jokun/awardees
& contacts/honorary-symbolic liaisons list [readily available via Japan Consulate] & interned un-american listees on 12/7/41,
incl. American citizens/Nisei Dr. Ernest Mitsuo Kuwahara/Frank Futoshi Arakawa,
along w/O`ahu JCC Issei — only officer left was Nisei Masaji Marumoto 1906-1995,
who didn’t even have enough heads for a mtg., much less a quorum — only one
person left — Masaji among officers. Sanji Abe/Frank Ishii also locked up. Party
line not factor [GOP locked up like Dem], though thoroughly haolified buddaheads
like Takie Okumura, & those who weren’t into Nippon reverie like Nisei Taro
Nakamoto [atty Roy's/Gladys Sonomura's dad], weren’t locked up. It’s unlikely
that Willy Thompson’s father-in-law Tasaku Oka/GOP, would’ve been interned
had Tasaku lived to see 12/7/41 [1st AJA solon Terr. Legislature along w/Andy
Yamashiro 1930], Oka dying young not long after he was elected to Terr. House
of Rep. Yamashiro died before Pearl Harbor attack. Oka true-to-core
assimilationist like Takie Okumura. Oka tried to recruit
youth leader Rich Imai born 1910 to join GOP, but Rich was committed Dem
under Kanaka Johnny Wilson/Del Metzger. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Katta gumi ["the winning side"][Hirohito loyalists in Hawai'i WWII] –
Before we get to the right-wing fanatics, later Israel giant leader
Mickey Marcus, WWII provost marshal, dismissed the charge of
carrying an enemy flag against Mamo St.’s Sanji Abe, & ordered
“immediate destruction of that symbol of treachery.” Abe did not
know that the red hamburger flag was in his Yamatoza theater
dressers, & felt that a miscreant planted it there to indict him.
The other well-known enemy flag possession case was when Honomu baker
alien Inokichi Ishigo of Honomu, age 55, was sentenced by marshal
King to a year at hard labor & a $1,000 fine. Unlike Abe’s case, where
the martial law governor failed to issue rules governing possession of an
enemy flag, Ishigo’s case was rock solid for the prosecution. Ironically/sadly,
the Ishigo kazoku/family were utterly loyal Americans. Now to Katta gumi, or
Hisho Kai [absolute victory club]. On Sept. 1, 1945, V-J Day, a bunch of old
Issei/Nippon immigrants looked out over Hilo bay from Wainaku palisades
for what they thought was the victorious Imperial Japan fleet shipping in
to re-fuel, all fomented by ill-intentioned rumors of Japan’s victory over
the U.S. Hilo Hisho Kai was led by Seiichi Masuda, who was charged for
possessing an enemy flag at his Hilo home & at the Daijingu temple on Manono/
Kuawa Sts. in Waiakea. He & Sumi Tokunaga/Rev. Chonosuke Kanno later were
convicted of Daijingu illegal enemy flag possession. Ninole cane cutters Sueda
& Yamamoto also were convicted in separate incidents for Ninole flag-raising.
Masuda got the harshest sentence of 6 months in jail & combined
$800 fine [for Hilo home/Daijingu cases]. On December 31, 1950, the U.S. Gov’t
announced that display of the Japan red hamburger flag was no longer illegal.
In 1953 Dem Gov. Oren E. Long pardoned Masuda/Sueda/Yamamoto. Hirohito
edicted State Shinto [to Buddhist consternation in Hawai'i], which is why our
Daijingu temple [nature worship, not worship of individual Buddha] was suspected
of inclining toward pro-Japan vs. other Nippon sects. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Gunji Kono of Hilo Transporation as Shinmachi enabler
Na’alehu former native Gunji Kono had his huge Hilo Transportation Bldg.
right where Emma St. led back to Wailoa river [today's pebble road to
DLNR Matson containers next to Hilo Iron Works]. Gunji was Shinmachi’s
greatest enabler, hiring exclusively Shinmachi residents at his trucking
firm. Of course, Gunji was the 1st major entrepreneur in Shinmachi [means
"New Town" in Japanese], built on reclamed land [former swampland], after
the Little Tokyo fire of January 20, 1914 destroyed the heartland of Issei/
immigrant culture [today's downtown KTA parking lot]. Do you know that
Holualoa icon Kumakichi Higashihara worked for Gunji, & lived in the back of
Gunji’s bldg.? Yes, Kuma’s daughters died in the April 1, 1946 tsunami, as
did Gunji. Kuma was in Hilo Hospital for ailment when the tsunami hit at 7:00 a.m.
The highest concentration of deaths occurred in Shinmachi, which was
sandwiched between the seashore & Wailoa pond — no chance. Kuma was
so overcome by tragedy that he changed his name to Harold Higashihara,
feeling that his Japanese name was bachi/bad omen. After all, first Little
Tokyo burned to the ground, then Shinmachi got gouged out of the ground
by the April 1 tsunami, so what else lay in store for buddaheads? Lo/behold,
Kuma went on to be a beloved Kona solon, & has Honalo park named after
him. Kuma’s wife Kiyomi Shimizu Higashihara [formerly of Mt. View] poignantly
bespeaks of their infant daughter still clutching her doll as if she were soundly
asleep. Shinmachi resident Shigeko Matsumoto Takahashi’s brother married
Kuma’s sister & settled in Holualoa, Kona. Shigeko was Kalopa icon Bill Nobriga’s
clerk [Bill's dad JJ Nobriga raised Bill w/silver spoon in mouth]. Do you know
that Shinmachi toddler 1946 Al Inoue is first cousin to former solon Pat Fukuda
Saiki? [Al's dad is brother of Pat Saiki's mom] And that Shinmachi taxi driver
Narikawa was interned [took Nippon visitors to Volcano], whose wife was
Pat Saiki’s mom’s sister? To Shinmachi folks,
Kango Kawasaki’s daughter Sumie was hotoke sama [virtual goddess for her
loving nature/physical beauty]. She still is majestic at age 87 [looks 60 yrs.
young]. Shinmachi folks had unreal nicknames: Nigga Horse Masaki [Black Beauty].
Soup Matsuno [loved shiru/soupy dishes] was a Barenaba/Derby Lane Jinbo. Beans
Iwaoka did not live by Mameya [beans/pussy] lane but on Kam Ave. With all the
newspaper publicity about revisiting the May 23, 1960 tsunami, here we are on
the 63rd anniversary of the even more deadly [no alarms/sirens] April 1, 1946
tsunami. Thankfully, I was able to fulfill Shinmachi leader Riichi “Lee” Hatada’s
dying wish to have a Shinmachi sign erected fronting Kam Ave. to honor the
lost city of Atlantis/Shinmachi, arigato to DLNR chief Ralston Nagata [former
neighboring Pi'opi'o native] of Honolulu. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Yoshito Takamine born June 1926 –
Yoshito Uchinanchu/Okinawan born/raised at Chin Chuck Rd. Hakalau
[above the Hakalau pedestrian overpass today], relocated to Kukuihaele
1932 after his parents lost their cane land amid Great Depression,
later settling in Honoka`a, eventually becoming Hamakua Coast’s greatest
lawmaker [never lost an election] who changed the social order among
plantation villagers [parity in schooling/health care/housing/taxes]. As
Yoshito describes his foray into politics, he was “drafted” at the 11th hr.
before filing deadline by George Martin/Eddie De Mello to run for Terr.
House seat 1958. Yoshito describes himself as working man/woman’s
advocate, including his ILWU [leave of absence when legislature in
session]. Yoshito has no closeness to Scrub Tanaka 1915-2006 because
Scrub was a businessman, not a laborer, & Yoshito’s ILWU endorsed
whoever would benefit most the ILWU, incl. GOP Hiram Fong [whose
Finance Factors bailed out many an ILWU member, even placing
moratorium on principal payments for 1 yr. w/interest only payments
during strikes]. ILWU boss Jack Hall hated union-buster/Commie redbaiter
Dem Frank Fasi, vs. ILWU’s clear choice Hiram Fong 1959. Scrub never forgave
the ILWU for endorsing GOP Lofty Cook over Scrub for County Chairman/mayor
1960. Yes, Yoshito has no loyalty/affinity w/taisho-autocratic Scrub.
After George Martin 1924-2009 “retired” as Int. VP ILWU out of Frisco
[Aussie emigrate/"alien" Harry Bridges wanted only a fellow longshoreman
to succeed Bridges], George returned to his infancy roots Waipunalei/
O`okala, where he mulled whether to run vs. Malama Solomon for State
Senate seat [Malama clear ILWU endorsement 1982-1994/ILWU got disgusted
w/her dissident behavior vs. ILWU strategy & ILWU endorsed winner Lorraine
Rodero Inouye 1998] or vs. Taka Domingo for County Council seat. Yoshito
defers to ILWU PAC that if/had George run vs. Malama, ILWU would not
endorse George. Yoshito says Yoshito had no authority to discourage or
encourage George to run vs. Malama. Yoshito was neutral, not partisan
for George [who gave Yoshito start in politics]. You gotta’ ask, where’s the filial piety of the ILWU
for its godfather George Martin? On the other hand, Yoshito rhetorically
asks, free country, so if George runs for office, why should the ILWU be
locked down to support George? Yoshito turns George’s mantra inside out,
it’s not about the candidate/person, it’s about the Union/ILWU. If George
doesn’t serve the best interests of the ILWU, George is expendable.
Yoshito has no qualms about George vs. Taka Domingo. To Yoshito,
Yoshito’s job as ILWU agent is to promote ILWU, not either candidate.
As solon, Yoshito stays neutral. To George, this is heresy, because it’s
like not voting in George Washington for President after Washington wins
the Revolutionary War. Which is the mistake Jack Burns made in 1959
when Burns felt that the Governorship was owed to Burns, in that Burns
won Statehood for Hawai`i. What Burns didn’t fathom was that Ike’s GOP
gave all credit to naive/clueless appointed Gov. Bill Quinn for winning
Statehood for Hawai`i. The real truth about Burns as THE REASON we
won Statehood did not trickle down to the teeming masses. In politics
as in life, nothing is OWED/TAKEN FOR GRANTED/AN AUTOMATIC WIN.
George’s/Jack Burns’ mistakes. Ask Yoshito Takamine. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Bank of England –
Claus Spreckels 1828-1908 virtually owned Kalakaua because of Kalakaua’s
gambling/other debts owed to Claus. Claus opposed annexation of Hawai`i
to the U.S. which would erase his monopoly over Hawai`i sugar. Our local
Big 5 eventually started our own C&H refinery in Frisco to counter Claus’
stranglehold over sugar. Our Monarchy was in such debt that it looked
to England to bail out itself vs. Claus/etc. Eventually, Bank of England
bailed out Hawai`i by encumbering our ceded lands, & Bank of England’s
note was retired/paid off by our U.S. gov’t via annexation, $4 million
dollars which today compute to $110 million dollars. If Trask/Blaisdell/
Osorio claim ownership dibs on ceded lands, all they have to do is reimburse
U.S. taxpayers $110 million dollars w/interest at 10% p/annum for total of
$231 million dollars, & then they can squabble about fee simple. Simple
simon says. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
John Yuen [pronounced Yen] born 1923 great sportsman
John is Tai On Chock’s wife Laura’s only brother/oldest sibling. John grew
up on Mamo/Punahoa Sts. [Yuen chicken store], & was the original member
of the Wanderers Athletic Club founded in 1933 by 14 yr. old Francis Wong,
of later renown [Wong Stadium]. From its outset, Francis’ boys won 5 team
championships in various sports in the first 2 years alone. Francis first put
the Wanderers together to play basketball in the P & R summer fun league.
The Wanderers original nucleus grew into a member of our holy trinity of
sports orgs incl. Waiakea Pirates/Lincoln Wreckers, that kept kids busy/
productive. The Wanderers Golf Club led by John Yuen implemented
tremendous positive changes to our Hilo Muni Golf Course to make it
user-friendly. P & R boss Bob Fukuda extolled/praised John’s wayfinding
in 1972. John was a late blooming athlete, having grown from just over
5 feet starting in high school to 5′9″ after high school. John is a WWII
infantry veteran with several distinctions/Bronze Star. John
was an outstanding athlete and made several military all-star teams
in softball. John actually started work at Bank of Hawaii right out of
high school, interrupted by his valorous WWII military duty. Rudy
Peterson is Hawaii’s greatest banker & led Bank of Hawaii 1955-1961.
Bank of Hawaii overtook today’s First Haw’n Bank in overall assets/
bank branches, an amazing feat considering that First Haw’n Bank was
territorial banking’s mantra before Rudy led Bank of Hawaii. Blessedly,
John was not injured from WWII, & became Rudy Peterson’s & Peterson
right hand man Jim Evans’ golden boy, eventually becoming our main branch
head for Bank of Hawaii. John retired in 1988 amid tremendous fanfare/
customer-staff appreciation. Till this day, John’s enormous good heart/
equanimity sees him still being honored by his former employer/staffers.
It’s been 20 years since John’s retirement, but you’d never know it, from
the way his former staffers still lavish him with praise/affection. John
was groomed at the right time, cusp of Statehood/boom years. Perfect
timing for John and for us all — Hawaii is better for John’s unselfish
years of service as our neighborhood banker. John’s leadership of the
Wanderers, 76 yrs. old this year, was especially crucial after Francis
Wong’s tragic death at a relatively young age. John’s banking skills
naturally allowed the Wanderers to flourish under John’s leadership.
Francis Wong handpicked John to lead the Wanderers — yes, Francis
was John’s mentor/alter ego/guru. And Francis saw in John what
the whole world sees in John — John gives so much of himself to
make our community/society a better place to live in. John ranks
among our greatest athletes & sports benefactors — John’s long
& tremendous leadership of the Wanderers has been exceptional/
extraordinary. Name any person/facet of our community — in some
direct or indirect/vicarious way, John has been a plus/positive part
of such phenomenon. Name any sport, name any community
activity, somehow, someway, John had contributed in altruistic/
quietly focused fashion. John is our superhuman sports & community
icon. John deserves ensrhinement in out Hawai`i Island Sports Hall
of Fame. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Pi`opi`o area “after-words” [by today's Wailoa Visitor Ctr. area] –
Ivy Nakamura Kusunoki [Waiakea Pirate icon CT's daughter/baseballer
Paul's sister--Paul married Kiyosaki of Kiyosaki Store, not self-promoter Robert Hilo
High '65] had our only proprietorship preschool child care facility across
Meishoin Church. My baby brother Lloyd went there 1959. Such facility
showed the rising 2 wage earner [both spouses] household post-WWII
[wahine role change borne by necessity/schooling opportunity]. Ivy
herself led the way via her proprietorship, just as Chiyoko Nancy Takayesu
broke new ground in the Luso male-entrenched bar industry via her Bar Havana
corner Kilauea/Ponahawai Sts.
Shindo’s Shinmachi soda works facility was destroyed by the ‘46 tsunami
[huge warehouse on Keaukaha side of today's Kam Statue]. Its soda
works then centered where today’s Home St. Bank is, as former Pi`opi`o
resident Jerry Hirata born 1944 says [Jerry got slight scar to show how
bottle blew up in his face when he worked there], off Orange Lane back
of Dr. Kasamoto’s office [retired probation officer Sidney's dad]. Sugiyama
was w/Coca Cola [Doc Hill's outfit]. 442 hero Hoxie Nagami’s kazoku/family
owned Excelsior Soda Works on Kilauea Ave. [Derby Lane rear had warehouse
of stored bottles]. Dairymens became Meadow Gold, & moved from Pi`opi`o/
Punahoa Sts. to where the Kam Statue sits today, & Excelsior Dairy later
was built right there too. My Uncle Charley/cousin Suemitsu delivered for
Dairymens. Pi`opi`o means royal arch, aptly denoting the ‘ili occupied by
royalty [incl. royal fishponds -- Wailoa/etc.], going back to Kam I’s assemblage
of his naval armada right there in former Shinmachi/Pi`opi`o. Thence the Kam
Statue there today, looking out toward the sea. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Upending the status quo replete in Scripture –
Mordecai’s Esther stands up for who she is & is willing to die so that others may
live. She chastens, “If I perish, so be it!” Haman throws a banquet to celebrate
himself but ends up in self-destruction via his egomania. Haman invokes getting
rid of the Jews but finds himself being rid of. Foolish pride. Esther upends the
status quo. Peter’s fear of the status quo wrung his denial of Jesus, only to
be overcome by Peter’s conversion/make-up call to be martyred for Peter’s
devotion to Jesus. Paul’s Type A personality fit God’s master plan of “everybody’s
different.” So Paul converted from Christian-persecutor status quo to savior, Type
A unchanged. Paul was who he was to serve a greater good, not to serve himself
a la Haman. John’s Bk. of Revelation showed John’s conversion from son of thunder-
master of rage status quo to apostle of love. Obama cleverly says “above my pay
grade” to avert question of when life begins, but for a man who aspires to the highest
secular office/respect, Obama lets down Christians who defy status quo/culture of
mediocrity. Obama can say “at conception,” but still defer to secular authority [the
people rule, not the churches]. State his principle/defy status quo, but defer to
law of the land, not church. “The people have spoken” via their organs [courts/etc.]
absolves Obama of autocracy/personal agenda over the polity/diverse constituents.
In Obama’s sacred/profane sanctuary, the only powers are good/evil [God/devil].
This duality works thru humanity/flawed beings. We frail sentients fight not flesh/
blood, but vs. principal power in highest place, namely vs. Satan. As Daniel says,
the real battle is in the heavens. Satan’s desire is to be like God, so why make it
easier for Satan by denying your Faith? Obama defers to diverse polity/secular
authority, not status quo. Status quo is to deny one’s Faith, if one has Faith.
Satan is not the secular body. Satan fights on the highest plane, vs. God. Jesus
upended the status quo as reformer by responding to Pontius Pilate, “it’s not for
you to set me free, but for those who judge me wrongly. Ultimately, the Truth
shall set me free, just as it shall set free those who judge me wrongly today.”
No need for Obama to recant. Obama spoke his heart, though timidly like Peter.
Repentance is a wondrous thing. It only comes when you don’t think about it.
Much surprise awaits Obama. Growth. O`ahu’s Mits Aoki born 1915 is great
advocate on growth/repentance. Mits not Hilo’s Hideo Aoki 1920-1977. “Stand
in the Truth,” whether one lives or dies. It’s the only thing that matters. When
my uncle Yukio was courting wife Masae/Nancy, inebriated Yoshimura [He-Man
6 footer hulk] pushed away Yukio to dance w/Masae. Yukio, only 5′3″, told
Yoshimura, “Az no way to treat a lady.” Yoshimura told Yukio to step outside.
Outside the dance hall, Yoshimura swung “for the fences” & missed Yukio by
a mile. Yukio threw “shoe-shine” [sharp rapid blows] at Yoshimura’s mid-section,
that dropped Yoshimura like a rock. Upending the status quo [rebuke bully
He-Man Yoshimura]. Richard Uejo born 1925 started today’s HIAC [elderly day
care center]. Richard started the Japanese language program among Baptists.
Richard started child care pre-school, & the forerunner of today’s A Plus program.
Richard upended the status quo. But inner beauty comes in strange packaging.
As w/leaders like Rich Uejo/Steamy Chow, you gotta’ cut thru the self-glorification/
selfish pride that constitute 99% of the verbal drivel, to get to the treasured
1% mother lode [of wisdom]. Richard is the negative exemplar of having to
cut thru the crap to get to Richard’s 1% holy grail. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Global financial crisis –
Subprime [bad loan] mortgage failure/CDS [credit default swaps---so-called derivatives/
hedge funds concocted 15 yrs. ago at J.P. Morgan to prop up worthless paper-scams]
felled Wall St. Morgan Stanley/Goldman Sachs converted to regulated holding bank status
to free up access to capital under such regulatory scheme. Free-market model as we know
it that fueled so-called derivatives “casino gambling” now will be tightly regulated, just as
our loose regulatory oversight still was a huge leap forward vs. the unregulated stock market
that crashed 80 years ago in 1929. Especially back then, there was no FDIC/FCUIC that
guaranteed grassroot savings deposits. –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Abundance of a man’s heart is from Matthew 12:35
The heart is filled w/both Jekyll & Hyde. Overcoming the Hyde in each of us is
as elusive as a phantom. Isamu Kanekuni born 1921, knowledgeable as he
is, is an utter asshole — tells me why do I waste my time crusading for
sports ancients/icons when today’s dying newsprint is about local contempos.
Yes, newsprint dies w/our old farts, but to me business/economics are not
excuses for sh_tcanning the past. Yes, blogging is my panacea, but I crusade
to give our oldtime heroes their last shot at glory before they pass on to Divinity.
Now what’s so useless about this! “The heart, not the brain, is our noblest refrain!”
Yes, Isamu is no jesus/buddha/muhammad. Isamu is my negative role model who
inspires me to REBUKE Isamu & battle even more by REJECTING Isamu’s heartless drivel.
The post-1920 born buddaheads are frickin’ punks/egotists/intolerants. Dad, I miss you
[Toshi 1913-1998]. You, Hiro Higuchi, a breed apart from Isamu’s gang of
hubris-makers. Love, –Curt
February 4th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr 1892-1971 [alter ego to MLK/Barack Obama] –
Niebuhr is Missouri-born German American whose dad was an evangelist. Like Hung Wai Ching,
his protege, Niebuhr has divinity degree from Yale & is among NYC Union Theol. Sem.’s greatest
figures [taught Hung Wai/devotees include Martin Luther King/Columbia U. sister school's Barack
Obama]. Like Yasutaro Soga’s slow but steady assimilation, Niebuhr transformed from incendiary
leftist to moderate centrist peacemaker/consensus-builder. Extraordinary evolution/metamorphosis.
Our greatest leaders today hang their hats on nerve center Niebuhr. Niebuhr’s outlook presaged
today’s Muslim extremists — the sin of spiritual hubris is the worst sin, more than sins of mental/
physical hubris, which are easier to overcome. –Curt