But gun control? That’s a different matter. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the court established for the first time that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to own a gun, distinct from the necessity of a “well-regulated Militia.” Hawaii’s attorney general, Mark Bennett, along with four other state attorneys general, had urged the court to rule in favor of giving a state broad latitude in regulating gun ownership, individual rights or not. This the court did not do. Nonetheless, by most accounts, the court provided enough room to challenge state laws but not enough to say with certainty that those laws are unconstitutional.

So it’s reasonable to expect that pro-gun groups like the National Rifle Association will want to find out. It’s also reasonable to expect that Hawaii’s gun laws, which are fairly strict, will be challenged. So if you’ve ever felt the need to legally carry a concealed weapon, without the chief of police’s approval, you know were to go.

Hawaii’s near-shore waters share a couple of things in common with Alaska’s Prince William Sound. They are achingly beautiful, and oil tankers sail through them. Some twenty years after the Exxon Valdez dumped its load of crude into Prince William Sound, the Supreme Court, in Exxon Shipping v. Baker, reduced the punitive damages in the case to $500 million, down from the original jury award of $5 billion. This hardly seems punitive; it’s about four days of Exxon’s profits. Surely putting a lapsed alcoholic at the helm of a supertanker sailing through a major fishery and a treasured natural environment is worthy of real punishment, in light of the long-term destruction that decision wreaked. Punishment and deterrence are the point of punitive damages, after all.

The court also decided that, in general, punitive damages in maritime cases like this one should be equal to or less than compensatory damages. So if an oil tanker spills its contents off Hawaii waters — for whatever reason — don’t expect too much. Because apparently the plaintiffs in Alaska are learning that lesson the hard way.

I beg to differ.

There is no issue as identified with Hannemann as rail. If he wants to be re-elected this fall — though so far ANY competitors are waiting in the wings — progress on the rail project is key. Barbara Wong, who heads the Campaign Spending Commission, thinks it’s wholly appropriate, too.

Had he used the city public-information contracts for this purpose, then there would have been cause to complain, especially as the tone is so combative.

TOO combative, some might say. Hannemann indeed may be surprised that some of his former supporters were turned off by his abrasiveness in the ad.

But I’m fine with his treatment of the dust-up as a legitimate campaign issue. He spent his money, he assumes the risk of any fallout. The Stop Rail folks haven’t been pulling their punches, either. Might as well take the gloves off.

All’s fair in love and war. This IS war, isn’t it?

— Vicki Viotti 

At my age every new person I meet reminds me of someone I used to know.  So the challenge is to try and remember the name of the person I used to know. And you know what? I’m truly amazed I can remember that person from long ago. The sad part is I’ve already forgotten the name of the person I just met.

It’s doubtful he had City Councilman Rod Tam in mind, though.

In all the storm swirling around Tam’s use of an epithet that’s offensive to Hispanics — and I won’t repeat it here, because you’ve all heard it, right? — there’s debate over whether it’s a racial slur or simply an insult, and over whether Tam was being hostile or merely thoughtless.

Nobody is debating the simple fact that it’s plain dumb for anyone to use such words, especially someone who depends on the goodwill of the electorate for his job..

Tam has apologized, the council has censured him. That seems about right.

Some in the community are calling for his ouster, and they may get their wish — ultimately.

There are times to give elected officials the boot immediately, but a rude comment, even one this rude, doesn’t quite rise to that level. If every politician got the boot for doing something witless, there’d be winds whistling through the empty government offices statewide.

Those who want Tam out should throw their support behind one worthy candidate seeking to replace him in 2010, and one more to run against him if he does go for the lieutenant governor’s post in 2010.

Yes, that’s a long way down the road. But something tells me Tam’s new opponents won’t forget the stupidity.

– Vicki Viotti

These are plasticized but very real cadavers, of real people, and they’re really on display at Ala Moana Center, and for a really fat admission charge, too.

In theory there’s a facination with human physique that could be indulged here. Or so I thought, until I learned more of the particulars.

Specifically: It’s not really clear how these bodies were obtained from China. And even if some official gave permission, most decent people would agree that it wasn’t his or hers to give.

But what brought the picture into focus for me was, well, the picture. The one we ran in our newspaper.

It was a closeup of a cadaver, of the face. Yes, we can study the sinews and muscles and muse about how they all interconnect, but at the point where you’re looking into a face, it ceases being a academic exercise.

It’s inhumane. And just plain creepy that such a thing becomes a public amusement.

I know I won’t be able to walk through the door.

— Vicki Viotti 

In 1990 when the statue of Duke Kahanamoku was erected in Waikiki, a group of traditionalists complained the Duke would never turn his back on the sea and insisted the statue be turned around.  Which never happened.  It’s still good advice, unless you’re a statue.

Naturally, I’ve taken the bus before and know my own home-to-work route well. For the last two years I’ve worked in a department in which I don’t need my car for work that much.

It’s the chore of getting the kid to school that has kept me behind the wheel. That, and the fact that I like this semi-quiet time in the morning, and I love listening to morning radio. (Even the station my daughter prefers!)

But since the kid got her driver’s license, there have been more occasions when she begged for the car, I relented and found another way home.

Today marks the first day of her first summer with a driver’s license, and the booking has already begun. A friend who recently moved to the Mainland is coming back for a visit and is staying with us for a week.

“Mom,” the teenager informed me, “I’m gonna want the car kind of a LOT while Rachel’s here.”

Oooookay, I said.

I have the option of riding along with my husband, but he likes to leave later than I do. Also, wiith every upward tick of the per-gallon gas price, mass transit looks better and better, I figure that now’s a good time to try the bus on an experimental basis. The kid’ll be going off to college before I know it, and by then who knows what gas will cost?

I’ll let you know how it goes.

At least I can bring a radio headset along with me. No need to sacrifice that little pleasure.

 – Vicki Viotti 

Some time ago I decided to go to Pamplona and run with the bulls.  You know, one of those things a guy’s gotta do once in his life.  I like to draw animals and figured I’d come back with  a lot of neat sketches.  I did a lot of research including watching old movies.  Time was running short.  I had to make my reservations.  But you have to book at least two years in advance.  As a member of AARP I tried to get some special consideration.  Unfortunately, they wouldn’t take me seriously.  I could get a flight but would have to sleep in the park with a million drunken  students and hippies.  Then I began to ponder how much drawing I could do dodging a lot of bulls and crazy hippies.  I had already bought new running shoes and practiced zig-zagging up and down the street every morning.  To be honest, I got cold feet.  But I continued to practice drawing bulls.  Not in Spain but in North Shore cow pastures.

The original of the picture above was done in Japanese ink sumie style 24″ by 36″.  I don’t us a brush.  I draw from the bottle.  Kind of tricky.  You can’t hesitate.  I do the whole thing in seconds and use a lot of paper till I get it right.  And it takes forever to dry.  But I have time.  I’m not going anywhere.

Oddly enough, my husband knew him, too — but as a Spanish teacher at St. Louis High School. That was back in the ’60’s, before the Hawaiian cultural renaissance, when a renewed appreciation for the native arts was just beginning. Keola Lake helped to drive what Hawaiian cultural activities there were on the Crusader campus (and the late George Helm was one of his featured students), but there weren’t too many full-time Hawaiian teachers around, and teaching Spanish became his gig.

Perhaps it’s not so odd, considering what a man of the world this kumu really was. What was so admirable about him was his embrace of all religions and cultures. Spiritually he was both Catholic and a practitioner of the Hawaiian religion and he saw absolutely no  conflict there. While covering one of his ‘uniki (graduation) ceremonies for his students of  the hula, chant and kahuna arts, I noted that the ancient Hawaiian rites took place at the Catholic Marianist retreat in ‘Ewa Beach. How cool was that?

There was also his delightful personality. Another admirer once told me that Lake personified the definition of the word ‘olu’olu: pleasant, nice, amiable, satisfied, contented, happy, affable, agreeable, congenial, cordial, gracious. He was all those things.

But today I looked up the literal meaning of his middle name — the life of the people who attend the land — and am struck by how well that suited him.

– Vicki Viotti 

Why? Because the whole nature of the journalism profession has changed. Mainly, it’s a good change: Anyone who has access to a blog — and that would be everyone, right? — can be a journalist. They can post articles on sites that look reasonably professional and, with some low- to no-cost promotion, get the word out. THEIR words.

A shield law essentially protects the journalist from a court order that they turn over their sources and notes. Journalists often cannot get information critical to investigative or other controversial pieces without a promise of anonymity, so there are cases in which sources need protection or they simply won’t come forward.

Many news organizations have rules in place to prevent abuse. Otherwise, we’d be running stories with anonymous accusations from sources that have nothing to lose and probably something to gain.

The problem is, independent bloggers have no gatekeepers to enforce similar standards. Should they have the same protections in court?

To make a long discussion short, I think there’s more to be gained from the new Hawai’i law than to be lost. There is a risk of abuse, but there are established news organizations that don’t abide by their own rules, either. And the media is self-policing, anyway, so who can tell which standards are being met?

We could come to no resolution. I’d be interested in what the readers think.

– Vicki Viotti