Kelo vs. New London

Aloha: Auwe, tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of one of the most dangerous decisions of the SCOTUS. It is the one referenced in the title of this posting. We have all been taught about the concept of "eminent domain". The highway needs to be widened so government can take your land for the public good, after just compensation at fair market value. Up till 5 years ago it had to be for the government's use. A highway, hospital, expand a park, whatever. In Kelo vs New London, the SCOTUS ruled that any government (fed, state, local) can take your property and resell to a private entity for the purpose of increasing the tax base. In the New London case, a lower middle class neighborhood was destroyed so that a drug company could build a factory. The neighborhood was destroyed, the land was rezoned and sold at a profit and the factory was never built. No factory, no jobs, no homes for the displaced. Just a great big eyesore. God help us all.

Happy Father's Day

Aloha: I hope all you father's out there have a very Happy Father's Day. My wife went to Honolulu for Red Cross training this weekend so this father is able to sleep late, eat what he wants, and watch what he wants all day. She returns at 5p tonight so maybe we will go to Nori's for pork chops. Speaking of pork chops, when in Kona go to Manago's and have pork chops. Great stuff. Cooked on an old cast iron grill, fantastic!!!!!

It appears that the lava pond in the Pu'u 'O'o crater is no longer active. Halema'uma'u, on the other hand, is chugging along. The volcano report is SOS. The rain report is 0.1 inches for the week. When I checked the rain gauge I ate a bunch of green beans from my wife's garden and I must say, fresh vegetables from the garden taste a whole lot better then in the house. Crisp, crunchy and sweet. My mother would tell us that when she was a child her dad would have her mom start to boil the water and when the water was ready he would go into the garden and pick the corn, husk it on the way back to the house and put it in the pot. My grandfather had quite a garden, at least half an acre. I do not think they ever bought any vegetables, even in the winter.

That will be it for today. God bless and take care. Love to all.

Pau Ka'a Part 2

Aloha: It seems that I did not make clear that after our little "fender-bender" all protocols were followed and both the fire and police departments had their representatives on scene. Yesterday I got in touch with the "villains" carrier and today took our "wheels" (blue boy) to be looked at. There appears to be a lot more damage than at first glance, so for the next two weeks we will be tooling around in a red Dodge Charger.

The insurance rep was looking at the truck and asked one of the workers over to check out what the rep thought was a "ding" and the worker looked at the drivers side and back and forth. He went and got another worker and they measured the distance between front and back tire on the passenger side and on the drivers side and the drivers side was 1.5 inches shorter. Hence the red Charger. Just looking at the wheel and tire and tail pipe the rep thought about $2,000. Now the truck will have to be put on the rack and really checked out.

That will be it for today. God bless and take care.

Sunday. Again?

Aloha: I just realized that I did not do my duty to my readers this past week. No posting for 7 whole days. How did you all survive?

I do nave some news to report. On our way home yesterday we got into a little fender-bender. We were number 3 in a line of cars and number 1 decided to stop in the middle of the road. Number 2 stops in time, I stop in time, but the Ridgeline behind me swerved to avoid me and his passenger front tire and my driver rear tire make like cymbal's and he gets a broken tire rod and a flat and is stuck in the middle of the road. Part of his tire is embedded between my tire and wheel. The car that started the whole thing disappeared as did everyone else who saw what happened. A friend on my wife's from JC's and the driver of the car that hit us changed out tire and now I have to go to my insurance and see what has to be done. My alloy wheel is damaged so will have to be replaced. So much for the excitement of the day, week, month and maybe the year.

We got 0.25 inches of rain for the week. The volcano is SOS. And all is beautiful in God's country. God bless and keep you all.

Aloha: The year is half gone and it still feels like it just turned 2010. Today's rain report is for 2 weeks and it is only 0.15 inches of wet. Boy, does time fly. The only thing moving faster then time is my waist line.

Not much to report today. The volcano is SOS and it is a beautiful day in Hawaii nei. I guess that will be all for today. I still have not heard if I will be sitting this week so no news is good news so I will be going down on Monday. Love to all and may God bless.