This is a huge earthquake over 7 points on the scale. If you folks are interested I have gathered some links this morning. Please check here. It seems that these stories about weather extremes are more violent? Anyway.

I was born September 11th in 1942, during the conflict we call World War 2. I am a war baby. War baby is a term that defines the underlying theme of my life and for many of my generation. We all can recite similar stories, the  human activity of war even the most remote cultures on the planet have experienced. And humans continue to have babies. War babies.

I was conceived and born in a time of war. My birth was a chance event hastened by the imperatives of life and death. My parents would never have met, my DNA would never have existed if not for the war. My father born thousands of miles away, met my mother while stationed at the Army base near her town. He, from a Russian Jewish background, she from a Scottish one, in those days would not even have crossed paths if not for the war.

Diary rescue by Migeru

This diary began as a comment in a dialogue with someone on a diary at KOS about another topic.  As it turned out the writer I was responding too said he was a stationed on a destroyer and his wife was also in the Navy, active duty which gave me pause to reflect.  

I wondered how to respectfully point out that his present "profession"and the way it is defined and presented in public discourse is part of the problem?

I feel it is time we let go of the notion that warriors and wars are inevitable and even admirable part of a national policy.  The exigencies of life on a changing planet guarantee that doing business like a 19th century industrial bully in a 20th century world will end in failure!

She was a big girl. Sunny Keawe was built like a Polynesian goddess. A Hawaiian Queen Latifah, being part Samoan and part Hawaiian and raised in Waianae out in the country on a high protein diet, on canoe practice and hula.

It was a perfect day in Hawaii.

    It was a perfect day in Hawaii.  The sun was bright and the electric blue sky was clear.  Sparkling highlights from the waves off Diamond Head bounced in the distance.  From my vantage point high over Honolulu on the trail above St. Louis Heights I could see most of Honolulu stretching out to Pearl Harbor and beyond.  On a clear day like this you could see the whole island if you got high enough.

   

Did you ever notice that often in life you get the bitter often with the sweet?  Just at the time when I get a small windfall thru the sale of a house, and I decide to travel, my youngest son (34 yrs old) has phoned with the news that he has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis?  

Colman suggested that I post this as a diary.  I saw that he was in the midst of a real estate transaction and it prompted this diary about my desire to tour Europe.I

When I was growing up we were taught that "America is the best country in the world." "No ifs ands or buts about my boy," we are the strongest, purest, cleanest, most noble and righteous, most democratic country on the face of the planet! We were taught to think America was the best in one way or another, at school, in the newspapers, and TV. My family  didn't get a black and white television until I was 11 years old but I remember newsreels in the movie theater on Saturday mornings.  All the movies in those days, late 40s early 50s and even sometimes into the 60s started with a newsreel glorifying the American war machine.  Tanks, my overwhelming visual impression from those days in the dark theater with many other sweaty youngsters was of huge Bradley tanks, American tanks running over the enemy.  Our perfect, invincible war machine.

Laboratory tests show a girl died of bird flu

The discovery of a new type of bird flu virus in Thailand

NZ mourns death of Maori queen

A Russian border patrol boat shot and killed a Japanese fisherman

A 30-year-old tourist died of heatstroke in Nanjing

The East-West Wire is a news, commentary, and analysis service provided by the East-West Center in Honolulu

Immigration agents raid massage parlor

CHANGES made by the Government to old ways of doing things has seen investment levels in Fiji increase

16,582 students sit for exam

Tahiti's 1st semester perliculture exports worth 6.5% more

Mexican fishermen found near Marshall Islands

In support of Mr. Lieberman's campaign, Mr. Clinton made the point that the 2006 election should not be about the war, but about core vales.  My Hawaii based take follows:

The Akaka campaign has come out with a series of strong television advertisements for the incumbent that emphasize the fact that Mr. Akaka was one of the 23 United States Senators that stood up for their country and courageously voted against the "war" resolution.  In my opinion, this one act, this acknowledgement of core human values, DEMOCRATIC VALUES, this one vote, redeems any small errors he might have made along the way.

This is a collection of links to places that you might not usually go to on a regular basis.  Some are right and some are wrong , but they are all interesting.  They are good for a day or two because most I took lazily from the front pages rather than the permalinks.  So get em while they are hot...

Uranium bombing in Iraq contaminates Europe


Wiretapping, AT&T, and Terrorist Targets


Lieberman: "The situation in Iraq is a lot better that it was a year ago"-Cafferty on Iraq: "It's BAD"


bad bad Nader rant


US army to replace Halliburton


Insurgent attacks surge in Mosul


Between Jerusalem and Andalusia


U.S. Terror Targets: Petting Zoo and Flea Market?


  Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Soldiers


Discovering Your Inner Constitutionalist


Who is going to pay for this folly? Who?


Seven Israeli Angels Killed, Two Captured and Seven Palestinian Dogs Killed, 4 Million Captured


Enough polite conversation - Israel is a Mafia state


Regarding Anti-Americanism


Here is a quick round up of recent GAO reports with information you can use.


HAMAS, Israel, Syria, Iran - Pieces of the Same Puzzle


You Can't Reason With Americans


Of Mushrooms and Peak Experiences


The Real Secrets of Our Terrorism Financing Tracking Program Remain Secret


ANALYSIS: Hezbollah's strategic kidnapping


Dispatch from Pakistan: The Taliban Expands


Hizbullah's spiritual leader warns Israel not to attempt to rescue soldiers.

I find the emergence of the World Cup and soccer on the world's stage including the American national one an encouraging sign.  Americans until now, as far as the definition of "football" is concerned have been constricted and narrow in their world-vision, their Weltanschauung, only recently begrudgingly granting soccer the name "football" that is used commonly elsewhere on the planet.  Going even further, I will assert that this worldwide media play, this enhanced and much ballyhooed World Soccer Cup television reality show, a profitable public countdown to arguably the best soccer team in the whole wide world for four years, this popular global event could be a significant precursor to a sea change in the American psyche.

***From the front page - whataboutbob

Massive red tide hits shellfish industry in BC Canada
6/16/06
Vancouver, Canada
A large red tide outbreak on the West Coast has closed much of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands to bivalve shellfish harvesting, forcing restaurants to revamp menus, seafood merchants to search for other supplies, and shellfish festivals to get creative.clam

Much of the B.C. North Coast from Prince Rupert south, including large portions of Vancouver Island, all the Gulf Islands and most of the Strait of Georgia, are closed to harvesting of bivalves -- shellfish with two shells, such as oysters, mussels, clams, geoducks and scallops.

Alaska permafrost thawing at an alarming rate6/15/06
By Ker Than
Carbon that has been locked away for thousands of years could escape into the atmosphere if global warming thaws large patches of frozen ground in Alaska and Siberia as expected, a new study warns.

This is in Thailand folks ...Six arrested after new wave of blasts Six arrested after new wave of blasts

An Indonesian and five Thais were arrested yesterday in connection with a string of bomb blasts in the deep South, as militants exploded more bombs targeted mainly at railway stations on the second day of multiple attacks.

The Chinese it appears have some problems when it comes to freedom of the press.  China tries NY Times researcher
The trial of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan, on charges of leaking state secrets, is held in Beijing.

Good News.....Whaling summit setback for JapanJapan has unexpectedly lost two key votes at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the Caribbean island of St Kitts.  The pro-whaling nation wanted to end work on conservation of sea mammals and introduce secret ballots.  Correspondents say for the moment at least the anti-whaling bloc appears to have retained the balance of power.

 

Tamil poet's plea for peace  "I am really sad and disappointed," says Tamil poet VIS Jayapalan.

He is visibly frustrated after talks broke down between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, last week.

 

This is from the Arab NewsChina's Rise as Challenger Provoking US Anxiety Martin Jacques, Guardian
BEIJING, 16 June 2006 -- At the time of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, the US stood supreme with barely a challenge visible on any meaningful time horizon. Almost five years on, we can clearly see both the inadequacies in the then-prevailing common sense, and the fallacies intrinsic to the neoconservative view of the world. There are, of course, always limits to power, even if they are not visible. The last five years have made the limits of American power plainly visible.

I'm about to go out for a walk with my German shepherd Xena and I thought you folks on the other side of the planet might want to dip your toes in the Pacific Ocean this lazy saturday?  check it out!

Friday evening funnies: My original intent was to illustrate the flawed pattern that some life-long spooks fall into.  It comes from the old saw, "he's been standing underneath the eagle too long." Clandestine information gatherers become plain old civil servants, dull soldiers of their paychecks, more interested in their retirement details than the accuracy of the information.  So they just follow the official line of doo doo from above.  George Tenant is the epitome of this type of individual.  

My first idea was to have dollar bills instead of red-white-blue drops emanating from the eagle.  This is a  little more obscure, but better than dollars I think.

There is just so much shit staining the Republican elephant and when I thnk about I realize it will provide grist for many investigations and much discussion and study for years.  That is, IF we get out of this without George and his cronies causing anymore global mayhem and destruction.  Yeah, he continues to endanger our lives.

Is any expletive bad enough for Mr. Bush?

When I first started writing my congressmen and and others to protest Mr. Bush's foreign adventures, I resolved to use no disrespectful language of a personal nature.  

I resolved to "play fair" and stick to criticism of Bush's policies (foolish, illegal) and when speaking of him directly (a fool) do it only in connection with his dangerous and foolhardy actions.

Last weekend I went to the Four Seasons restaurant on the beach on the Kona coast of The Big Island of Hawaii. It is in an exclusive resort situated way out on the now called "gold coast" coastline, in the middle of the ancient lava fields, now blooming with exotic flowers, soil brought from elsewhere and sand to construct the beach that was imported from New Zealand.

Over at

My Common Dreams

Howard Zinn has once again busted out the truth and serves it to us like little worms from the mama hen to her chicks (Thanks Steven Colbert)