Issues of 2008 Will Continue to Follow Us

It's good to see 2008 fade into history. Wasn't a very good year for many people. The economy tanked in 2008. Honolulu passed a rail ordinance that will continue to tax people for billions of dollars into the new year and the future. Aloha Airlines went broke. Unemployment rose. The tourism market shrunk. Large companies and banks are going broke. Some were lucky enough to get billion dollar plus government bail outs.

Barack Obama was elected as President of the United States. He was popular nearly everywhere in 2008 including Hawaii where he has 10 years worth of hometown roots. While he is a charismatic person and a good public speaker, I don't trust his political agenda. He is from the liberal left of the Democratic party. All I can see in an Obama presidency is added cost, more taxes and erosion of traditional American values as Democrats race ahead to embrace costly agendas in the name of "change".

That will make 2009 and beyond scary.

Also scary will be the Oahu rail project which will be very costly, disruptive and ugly. But the Mufi people are getting what they want and all of us who are long opponents of this expensive public works project will have to pay for it with higher and more taxes.

Is it worth being optimistic as a new year dawns upon us? I don't think so. It is hard for me to say "Happy New Year" knowing that everything seems to be going to hell in a hand basket.

So in celebration of the new year, one last look at the old with this picture of the last sunset of 2008 taken by me at Kakaako Waterfront Park in Honolulu Hawaii. Nature's show in the sky is usually good, often beautiful and always free. Thank the Lord for that. Best wishes in the upcoming new year. Aloha.

Snow on Mauna Kea

A break in the weather yesterday morning (12-28-08) allowed me to capture some images of Mauna Kea capped with snow from the previous days' thunderstorm. Mauna Kea is always a beautiful sight with its snow caps during the winter months. I think this snowfall made it down to about the 10,000 ft. level. Mauna Kea is 13,796 ft. high at its peak and is the home to Hawaii's successful high tech astronomy community and industry.

I spent more than a week on the Big Island, mainly in the Honokaa area on vacation. Shot a lot of photos which can be seen at my Big Island and Honokaa photostreams on Flickr. The above photo was taken in Honokaa along highway 24 at around 7:45 am in the morning. Canon S5 iS. Click here for a large version.

Superferry Operations Threatened Again

It is disappointing to learn that Maui opponents of the Hawaii Superferry such as the Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow Inc. and the Kahului Harbor Coalition are getting a day in the Hawaii State Supreme Court. This time they are challenging the constitutionality of the law that was passed by the Hawaii State Legislature in 2007 that allowed the Superferry to operate while the Environmental Impact Statement is being drafted.

These people will do anything to stop a ship that has greatly benefited the state, especially those who commute between Oahu and Maui. The Superferry has been successfully operating with its exemption for nearly a year now. Why can't the wackos just leave it alone and get a life? There are more important things to worry about such as high taxes and the cost of living. Hawaii Superferry is not contributing to those problems. It is an asset to the community and inter-island transport.

To add insult to injury the State Auditor also published an audit that is highly critical of the the State in its support for the Superferry. She is slamming the state on harbor infrastructure (barge ramps) built for the Superferry, their cost (which I admit is a concern), and whether or not Act 2 that exempts the Sueprferry from the EIS compromised environmental laws.

Hawaii's environmental laws are too restrictive. Some of the laws need to be scaled back. Too many things such as the Superferry and relocation of TV broadcast towers on tall mountains are hindered by environmental laws and special interest groups.

Our state needs to support all of the private alternatives that get people moving from island to island at reasonable cost and convenience and not let special interest groups and bad law get in the way.

Photo caption: The harbor ramp barges are a major point of contention for the environmental wackso and the State Auditors.

Going Electric

Governor Linda Lingle is becoming the cheerleader for alternative energy electric vehicles in Hawaii. At a news conference yesterday she unveiled the State's latest pilot project, an electric vehicle for fleet use at Maui Electric. The new sport utility trucks (SUT) produced by Phoenix Motorcars of California will be tested on Maui to see if electric vehicles are a viable alternative to conventional gasoline powered vehicles.

The Phoenix vehicles will be added to a fleet run by Maui Electric. They have a range of about 120 miles between charges. Each SUT have about 130 horsepower, equivalent to other conventional vehicles. As you can tell from the photo above, it certainly looks like any other vehicle on the street. The manufacturer says each vehicle costs about $50,000 but that it doesn't take much to maintain them except charge it up every day.

The Phoenix project is the latest in a series of new initiatives by the State to move Hawaii away from fossil fuels. Last week Governor Lingle demonstrated another electric vehicle and committed the state to establishing an island wide network of recharge stations for electric vehicles.

While the Governor's energy initiatives are to be lauded here, questions surrounding cost remain.

Electric vehicles are fine. Once the infrastructure to support them is installed, it may hopefully persuade some people to go electric. The cost of the vehicles themselves of course would have to be lowered before they are accepted by larger the driving public. And the cost of charging and battery replacement would also have to be affordable before they can be considered a serious replacement to gasoline powered ones.

While electric vehicles may increase in stature as an alternative option to conventional ones, I have to be more concerned about the cost of the Governor's overall energy alternative which includes wind, solar, ocean and geothermal possibilities. How much will this change cost the taxpayers and more importantly all of the ratepayers who consume electricity monthly from our power companies. If alternative energy costs us more then I am skeptical about its acceptance and success.

Lastly why is no one is mentioning nuclear energy?