Hawaiian

3 hours ago, Tug said:

You are mistaken the oil companies have plenty of places to drill without disturbing this natural wonder plus it will still be there for the future if needed.even now we are producing more oil than under trump.here’s a thought imagine if we could buy oil from Iran and have the Saudis competing with them to sell oil and as a bonus Iran wouldent be perusing nukes?….hummm…..?also both nations would be taking steps towards normalizing relations…….sad …….sad trump welched on the deal

Why do you think Iran can be trusted to stop their nuclear weapons program?  Normalizing relations with the mullahs......you got to be kidding.

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I think the ramp up of sakes from strategic reserves had something to do with a short term disruption in international oil supplies.

 

Which is what the ‘strategic oil reserves are for.

 

Biden’s long term strategy is to move the US to more diverse greener energy sources and reduce reliance on oil and gas.

Long term strategy?  Biden's days may be numbered.  Come 2024, a new administration and a new Congress may not be so "green."  Then what?

The real reason for selling SPR oil was to reduce prices at the pump.  If the Keystone Pipeline was not shut down the Covid and Ukraine situations may not have been so disruptive.

On 9/7/2023 at 2:29 AM, Chomper Higgot said:

Good news, leave it in the ground.

"leave it in the ground" and sell more oil from our strategic oil reserve to replaced by more expensive imported oil.  Typical Biden strategy.

11 hours ago, billd766 said:

170 Systolic whilst resting according to my Microlife BP tester is in the high range and it is suggested that the person concerned sees a doctor fairly quickly.

 

This should have been picked a while ago if Thaksin or his doctor was monitoring Thaksin's BP on a daily basis.

 

At least if this is true, Thaksin is in hospital where doctors are on call and medicines are quickly available.

 

https://www.healthcentral.com/article/blood-pressure-high-hypertension

 

"Very High Range - Stage 2 Hypertension
Systolic (top) blood pressure 160 mm Hg or high
Diastolic (bottom) blood pressure 100 mm Hg or higher
If in this range you have hypertension (high blood pressure)."

A blood pressure of 170/100 falls into the very high range. You should definitely follow up with your doctor about your blood pressure to see what kind of medication and lifestyle changes you can use to lower it. Untreated high blood pressure can greatly increase a person's risk of having a stroke and other health problems.

 

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/special-features/high-blood-pressure-understanding-silent-killer

 

Normal pressure is 120/80 or lower. Your blood pressure is considered high (stage 1) if it reads 130/80. Stage 2 high blood pressure is 140/90 or higher. If you get a blood pressure reading of 180/110 or higher more than once, seek medical treatment right away. A reading this high is considered “hypertensive crisis.”

Seems as many posters don't know this.  I do.  Through medication I have been able to keep my readings below 120/80.  However, it did go over 165/100 during one emergency room visit.

Judging from my own personal experience I would say the report of Thaksin's "hypertensive crisis seems quite plausible.

58 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

It's the actual numbers of, and how they drive up the cost of living in tourist areas.  Not only for those living there, but for domestic tourists.

 

Planning an O&A, and the hotel prices at Krung Thep are just getting silly.

 

Not to mention the strain on the already lacking infrastructure, and damage to natural environment so the tourist have access to the beauty, while ruining it in the process.

Maya Bay in Krabi and Haunama Bay on Oahu are two examples of what can be done to protect these popular hot spots. 

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

I'm not Thai, and the effect of all the tourist drive my crazy, if I bother to think about it.

 

Can't imagine being native Hawaiian and having to deal with all the howlies, especially if not working in the tourist industry.

Like any business, customers come in all shapes, sizes and attitudes.  The majority of tourists that I have met are polite and courteous.  It's the rude jerks that turn off the locals.

I have been visiting Thailand once or twice a year for over twenty years.

I have been to more than 40 provinces and everyone has been nice to me. 

On 8/15/2023 at 10:45 PM, Tropposurfer said:

How dare these 'uncivilised' island people dare resent the great white culture!

 

How ungrateful!

 

They should be grateful they were gifted by the invasion, grateful for their subjugation, humbly thankful for the disenfranchisement of their idyllic utopian culture.

I mean look at what the white man did to Waikiki - such 'progress'.

 

How could anyone object to, or find offensive, land prices being driven so high the native people cannot afford to live, loud mouthed (and please don't tell me Yanks aren't, arguably THE loudest most obnoxious tourists to be found), arrogant mainlanders tramping about, demanding as they go.

 

Idyllic utopian culture?  Not so,  according to history and stories from my grandparents and others.  Same as today, only the alii (elite) had it good.  Ever heard of the kapu system based on the ancient Hawaiian religion? 

On 8/15/2023 at 3:14 PM, Tug said:

A fully understandable opinion I’m my personal opinion having tourists wall to wall underfoot day after day year after year sucks now you tourists it’s time to earn your way back into the locals good graces by doing the right thing help out or preferably leave till you aren’t such a burden 

https://www.khon2.com/top-stories/visitors-implored-to-come-back-as-maui-job-cuts/

24 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

Are you a doctor? Because unless a person is deathly ill or fragile and elderly minor variations in outside temperature aren’t going to affect health one way or the other. The human body is not a battery, it is an engine which runs on fuel (glucose from carbohydrates).  Energy comes from glucose/glycogen reserves, burned in the mitochondria of cells.  . As long as you are healthy and not starving your body will maintain internal temperature and metabolism automatically, If you are hot you sweat, if you are cold you shiver, If you’re tired you sleep, no one needs to “conserve” energy due to simply “not feeling well” and outside temperature not being ideal. We have doctors who can diagnose and advise us if need be. As a matter of fact, “common sense” as well medical fact says that if you’re cold you should expend energy (not conserve it) because that creates heat. If you’re hot you slow down because expending less energy creates less heat. If you would like to learn more about metabolism in sickness and health I encourage you to enroll in medical school.

www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-shock/basics/art-20056620

20 minutes ago, placeholder said:

It's an organization with a political axe to grind.

It receives most of its money from conservative sources. So it's only a grassroots organization,  if that grass is astroturf.

I also have a political axe to grind.  In 1954, the Democrat Party came to power in Hawaii.  They have become the party of corruption.  In the past few years the feds have been prosecuting dirty politicians and government officials  that Hawaii's AGs have refused to do. 

Since being elected a trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Keli'i Akina has exposed a lot of corruption and graft in the organization and continues to do so. He just happens to be the President and CEO of Grassroots.  I don't care if he is a right wing Libertarian.  At least he has the you-know-what to do something few people in Hawaii are willing to do.

If you haven't already done so, read Land and Power in Hawaii by George Cooper and Gavan Daws.  I lived and experienced much of what was written.

10 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Thanks for mentioning Grassroots Hawaii, an extreme rightwing libertarian organization:

 

"The organization's stated mission is to "educate people about the values of individual liberty, economic freedom, and accountable government."[5] It promotes free market values and produces research on subjects like the Jones Act and pension issues. The organization is a member of the State Policy Network, a conservative and libertarian network of state-based think tanks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroot_Institute_of_Hawaii

 

Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is a member of the State Policy Network....Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[8]...

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has hosted writers from the ALEC-connected Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which screens potential reporters on their “free market” views as part of the job application process.[11] 

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Grassroot_Institute_of_Hawaii

So!

47 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

The problem is tourism jobs don't pay that well.  And with the cost of living already crazy high, where will these workers that take care of the tourists come from?  Hawaii is becoming like San Francisco, minus the crime (so far).  I lived on Oahu years ago and although tourism was a huge economic driver, the best jobs were working for the US gov.  And since the military has a huge presence in Hawaii (Oahu), these jobs were vital to the Hawaiian economy.  And yes, many Hawaiians have left Hawaii and gone to Las Vegas.  There was an article in the NY Times recently about this very phenomenon. 

A large percentage of the hospitality workforce are immigrants from the Philippines who continually sponsor their relatives to also immigrate to Hawaii. 

You're right about the pay.  That is why many have of them work at more than one job.  Unionized hotel workers starting pay is from $22 to $27 an hour.  Skilled "engineering" positions are in the $35 an hour range.  With overtime and tips some in housekeeping can make as much as $70,000 a year or more. 

27 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Thanks for providing no evidence to support your refutation.

Here's an article dating from before the big fire.

 

'Hurting for water': Hawaii resorts worsen Maui's water shortage

The coastline is actually dry, receiving less than 10 inches of water per year. It gets the majority of its water from Central Maui — the area of Kahului and around Wailuku — where residents are sometimes urged to conserve.
“The fact is that the people where the water originates are hurting for water,” Lucienne de Naie, chairperson for Sierra Club Maui Group, told SFGATE. “There are definitely shortages of water from overtourism, and those shortages of water are impacting an area we call Na Wai Eha.”

https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-resorts-worsen-maui-water-problems-18210790.php

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/13/us/lahaina-water-failure.html

16 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Of course, one of the reasons that they have to leave is that housing costs have skyrocketed.

THE PRICE OF PARADISE

AS HOME PRICES SPIKE NATIONWIDE, MAUI FACES THE PEAK OF A SYSTEMIC HOUSING CRISIS. MANY BORN AND RAISED ON-ISLAND ARE LEAVING FOR MORE AFFORDABLE STATES AS AFFLUENT NEWCOMERS BUY PROPERTIES AT RECORD SPEED.

On a busy Thursday afternoon at Kahului Airport, Kawika Kaina and his family pulled up to the curb in their silver Toyota Tundra amidst a flurry of rental cars and departing tourists. Kaina, 40, hugged his teenage daughter Deslyn and his niece Lauae and kissed his wife Pohai goodbye before he and his oldest daughter Deisia gathered their oversized suitcases and walked towards the crowded check-in counter, towards a new life in Nevada. 

Kaina and Pohai and their four children were born and raised in Hana, as were his parents and grandparents. They are moving to Reno because they cannot — and likely will never be able to — afford a home on Maui if they stay

https://mauitimes.news/the-price-of-paradise/

Many here in Hawaii have placed the blame on out-of-state buyers driving up housing prices.  As a retired home builder and mini developer, I have always maintained it's the unreasonable and cumbersome rules and regulations that are chiefly responsible. 

Now, Grassroots Hawaii has confirmed that along with several well respected economists agreeing.

3 hours ago, placeholder said:

This might be a reason why outsides aren't so welcome:

 

Why was there no water to fight the fire in Maui?

Big corporations, golf courses and hotels have been taking water from locals for years. Now the fire may result in even more devastating water theft.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/17/hawaii-fires-maui-water-rights-disaster-capitalism

Inaccurate and confusing article.

On 8/15/2023 at 3:34 PM, JonnyF said:

Sounds like you're in the wrong job if you resent the tourists so much.

 

The economy on Maui would collapse without tourism. You're going to need it now more than ever so maybe an adjustment in attitude is in order.

The phrase "Know what side one's bread is buttered on," seems appropriate.  Now that sugar and pineapple gone, tourism is all the more important as an economic driver.  So be nice to the tourists. 

Entire families have moved to the mainland USA

because employment opportunities are limited.  Many are native Hawaiians who are giving up their cherished local life style.  Last week, two of my tenants, both full bloodied Hawaiian, left for higher paying jobs.  They are also close friends that I hate seeing leave.

2 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

It's reasonable to assume that a major reason for Xi not invading Taiwan is the US and western reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Did you see my LOL?   My comment was made in jest.