The Portland police set up a perimeter of officers with rifles drawn for reports of a man with a gun. At a gun store. (Link stolen from Radley.)
Author: Bitter
Idiots in Hawaii: Lava Girls
I have to say, one of the highlights of the trip was Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. But not just because of the dried lava hikes, glowing lava lakes, steaming ocean entry points, and beautiful scenery. The pair of resort flowers we later dubbed “The Lava Girls” really made the trip worthwhile.
As we did our stroll down Chain of Craters Road, we pulled off at all of the crater scenic stops. Puhimau Crater was a perfectly lovely picture-taking spot until the Lava Girls walked up. The first was dressed in fashionable not-very-park-appropriate clothes and marching with determination up to the viewing area. The other in skin tight workout clothes yapping on her cell phone and yelling, “We’re in Hawaii looking for lava! We just want to see lava today.”
For those of you who didn’t have maps that said in nice bold letters that you could only see glow at the sea and from Jaggar Museum handed out at the door of the Visitor’s Center, this is the explanation from USGS on why these girls were in the wrong damn place:
Puhimau pit crater is about 160 m deep. The crater probably formed between the mid-15th century and A.D. 1800. No eruptions have occurred from Puhimau Crater, and no lava flows from historical eruptions have poured into the crater. Dense forest surrounds the crater, but a small thermal area lies just north of the crater. Steam often can be seen low on the northwest wall. (Emphasis added.)
Lava girls stomped off back to their car and sped down the road to their next crater stop.
I’ll assume they left very unsatisfied. I would even put money on one of them saying something like, “They totally lied – there were no volcanoes at that park!”
There was a great glow from the lava lake that night, but I’m sure they never saw it. We were both tempted to give them directions to the nearest sources of lava just to remove them from the gene pool. Unfortunately, without any surface breakout, that would be tough. (Of course, with surface breakout, it would have been tough since they weren’t dressed for hiking on lava – typically the first step in finding the hot, flowing stuff.)
Where is the True Conservative?
Click here and watch this. It’s great commentary on the Delaware senate race. (Link stolen from @Collins_Joe.)
Single-Issue Voters: For Wine?
Hey, people get passionate about their drinks – especially when those drinks are restricted at the hands of a state monopoly that jacks prices up. Not to mention, the selection sucks and if you try to buy out-of-state, you are committing a crime.
In his August newsletter, Keith Wallace of the Wine School of Philadelphia made a pitch for Tom Corbett. As he says, “… I have gained assurances that Gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett will make reforming the PLCB an element of his administration.â€
This is significant because, besides being a well respected person amongst the wine circles in the Philadelphia area, he also isn’t your expected Corbett supporter. “After all,†he says, “I am a former NPR journalist and Democratic operative [originally] from Massachusetts.â€
This shows two very important things. First, the PLCB is a significant enough of an issue to get people to be a one issue voter across party lines. Second, while there is the debate between both sides on where the line is drawn on the appropriate role of government, the PLCB crosses that line for many people.
I would love to be part of the wine vote coalition. Our state rep already knows that we’re all about the guns and letting our wine & beer run free. (Although getting rid of our stupid beer laws will be another tough sell, and much harder to do.)
Food of Hawaii
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much tuna and other seafood in my life. And you know what? It was delicious. Here are my thoughts on our culinary tour of Hawai’i in no particular order:
- Coconut makes everything more delicious. Â I knew this before we left, but my belief was confirmed. Â Coconut pancakes topped with coconut syrup? Â More please! Â (Diamond Head Market & Grill) Â And Starbucks has a Mocha Coconut Frap that you can supposedly only get in Hawaii. Â It’s like a Mounds slushie.
- Never, ever, ever miss this if you visit the island of Hawai’i: Tasting or luncheon at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company. Follow their directions, not Google’s. Trust me. But get there and get there fast. The tasting is actually about 3/4 of a meal, or a full lunch if you had an early breakfast. Delicious and divine. We bought several items in the store and plan to replicate most of their recipes. Sugar/vanilla/spicy crusted pecans? Check. Vanilla caramelized onions to top some brie warmed in pastry? I’ll host dinner for guests just as an excuse to make it. Vanilla balsamic vinaigrette? Bought it & already opened it up for dinner last night. Vanilla bean lemonade? I’m all over that one. Also free: tips on mixing vanilla with booze & how to best use said booze in food. This will be an “every future trip” stop for us any time we hit the Big Island again. Best $25 you can spend on food.
- Are you an atheist looking for proof of a higher being? Â Proof that there is a God and he loves us is found in a plate of Shrimp Scampi from Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. Â It was so good, we visited both locations the two days we were up on the North Shore.
- Best unexpected find? Â Ilikai Bar & Grill. Â Sit outside at the bar, enjoy the sounds of the harbor and take advantage of the good company behind the bar – particularly a bartender named Sarah. Â She was great – so was their coconut shrimp appetizer. Â I kept reading complaints that the property was dated, but I didn’t think it was in a bad way. Â The atmosphere was great.
- A great hidden gem: Liliha Bakery. We were the only rental in the lot – that says a lot right there when every other customer in the packed joint was kama’aina. The haupia cake – oh, be still my heart. It was so simple and mild, just what I love about it. Not too sweet, not overpowering, and wonderfully moist. The coco puffs are a delicious treat, and it’s worth picking up some cinnamon donuts for breakfast. There’s a reason they’ve been in business longer than Hawaii has been a state.
- Looking for the tiki bar vibe? Â Hit up La Mariana Sailing Club on Oahu. Â The drinks were a bit weak, but sitting on the water and enjoying the harbor sunset made up for that.
- Kona Brewing Company was worthy of three stops (two on Oahu because it was the only place outside of Waikiki we could find that was open at a reasonable hour and one on Hawai’i when we stayed in bumf*ck no where and had to drive to Kona for dinner). Â I strongly recommend the roasted garlic appetizer.
- Luau: Most people will tell you not to waste your money on a commercial luau. Â I can somewhat sympathize because, from what I have read, most have terrible food and many are pretty damn expensive. Â But, Sebastian was up for a luau, and I read there are only two worth seeing according to residents & frequent visitors: one on Maui & one on the Big Island. Â We were on the Big Island, so we ended our trip with the Polynesian luau hosted by Kona Village Resort. Â At just over $100/person (adding tax & extra drinks), it isn’t cheap. Â But, for a multi-hour dinner show & bbq with a buffet that definitely qualified as filling & good, it was a reasonable price. Â It was a great last evening for a trip to the islands. Â Also, the fire dancer on their website – totally hot in person.
Obviously, we did eat more than just these places. Â Oh, and Sebastian was introduced to the wonderful varieties of macadamia nuts thanks to my grandmother. Â He loves them. Â If you ever want to know, Mauna Loa Honey Roasted are superior to Hawaiian Host Honey Roasted. Â But neither of us turned down either of the bags offered to us. Â And if you aren’t walking it all off, then you aren’t doing Hawaii the right way. :)
Making Shooters the “Norm”
I have a habit that I know sometimes annoys Sebastian. I talk about the Second Amendment and shooting, preferably in places where it is unexpected and might even shake a few people out of their comfort zones. However, as he has learned by now, I’m very good about putting it into a context that people can understand so that they aren’t venturing so far out of their comfort zones that they want to run in the other direction. (That’s what we call counter-productive, not “cool” or something to take pride in.)
Our first adventure on Hawai’i was the Mauna Kea Summit & Stars tour (worth every penny). Since we would be on a bus & exploring the top of a mountain together for 8 hours, our tour guide asked us to introduce ourselves (the tours are small) and tell everyone else where we were from and one passion or hobby. Aha – my bright idea bulb goes off. (Poor Sebastian was too busy taking landscape photos to see the look that would have warned him what was to come.)
Aside from meeting another couple from our area in the introductions, it was a useful excuse to say that a hobby and passion of mine was target shooting. At dinner, two other couples came up to talk to me about shooting – one a recreational & occasional shooter and the other a hunter. Suddenly, the number of people who actually shoot or who were fine with guns in the home was now the majority on the bus. Anyone who might have been uncomfortable with it before now had to deal with the fact that they were in the minority opinion in the group. The hunter and I even talked about the various species he and his family members harvest and the deer numbers of northern New York. We created a casual atmosphere for other shooters to come out of the closet and talk about their sport like it was any other hobby or interest rather than a contentious political subject.
Shooting became the norm on that bus headed to the top of Mauna Kea. Mix that with the fact that Sebastian was the only one taking decent shots of the stars (real photos to come later) with everyone wondering how to do it, and some friendly conversation over dinner, and we gave guns a happy, human face.
We Return to Better Political News…
I’m currently catching up on the insanity in Delaware, where it seems enough crazy broke out over the last couple of weeks to entertain folks on both coasts nearly 24/7 on Twitter.
But, there’s this bit of interesting news from one of my favorite local political news sites:
That means some Democratic-held seats have become more competitive, most notably Patrick Murphy’s 8th District, which now sits at No. 4 on the rankings. Republican challenger Mike Fitzpatrick’s strong fundraising, an anti-Democratic climate and polling data we’ve seen all contributed to this change. Political forecasters increasingly see the Bucks County race as a battleground. No race has become more competitive since we inaugurated the Power Rankings—it’s moved from No. 10 all the way to No. 4.
This fascinates me, and likely will until the morning after election day. Talking to people on the ground, there’s not much enthusiasm for Fitzpatrick – the GOP candidate looking to reclaim the seat he lost in 2006. However, there is quite a bit of enthusiasm for voting out Patrick Murphy – the Democratic incumbent who ran as a Blue Dog and has voted fairly far left.
Of course, nothing we see here in Pennsylvania compares to the level of political engagement we saw out in Hawaii. Their primary isn’t until next weekend, and yet we saw sign wavers every single time we got in the car (with some exceptions when we were driving late at night). There are signs in lawns and banners hanging off the sides of a huge number of homes. We found it was even common for businesses to get in on the political game by showing their support for various candidates. It’s very clear that the Djou special election win has energized the GOP there, and they are out in full force showing their support for their candidates. On the Democratic side, Mufi Hannemann, the primary challenger to former Congressman Neil Abercrombie for the Governor’s office, appears to have quite the enthusiasm advantage. His volunteers were out everywhere. We never saw any Abercrombie supporters (at least in person – beyond a sign in the yard) until our next to last day. Even then, it was one group doing one sign waving event.
The NYT Archive System Must be Down
Tam’s got a snippet from a New York Times column that tries to show how it was those evil Republicans who wanted to keep us women barefoot and pregnant – or at least out of the voting booth. I assume that the author’s access to the NYT archives must have been down the day he wrote that because I found a handy NYT article that shows it was the Republicans who finally got the 19th amendment moving.
In fact, it was the Democrats who seemed to provide the main opposition to the amendment. Out of 44 Republicans, 36 (82%) voted for it. Of the 37 Democrats, 17 (46%) voted against it. In the House vote, 200 Republicans (92%) voted for it and 70 Democrats (41%) voted against it.
The Impact of the “Philly Blogger License”
I know everyone has seen this story already. It’s being touted as though Philadelphia is requiring a blogging license – which is not true. Philadelphia is requiring bloggers who make money off of their sites (in the cited examples, pitifully little money) to set them up as businesses. City Paper notes that they have the same requirements for freelance writers in Philadelphia. Bloggers aren’t being unfairly targeted – anyone conducting any form of financial transaction is being targeted.
Most of the commentary I’ve seen focuses on discretion in applying the law. I can sympathize with that point because it’s what we call “common sense.” And the impact will be felt here in the blogosphere. Wyatt says he’ll quit blogging if they come after him, and but all he’s got is a tip jar. I find his True Detective Stories to be a real eye-opener in the law enforcement world. (I assume most officers are brilliant like Wyatt, but it’s always good to be reminded that there are a significant number who are not. We’ll just leave it at that before I get into too much trouble.) I would consider the loss of his blog a real loss in the realm of serious public discussions, even if the True Detective Stories just want to make beat your head against your desk. (We live in the suburbs. Suck it, Philly.)
The good news is that the original story (and not the abbreviated/quoted Examiner piece that’s been linked everywhere) highlights one potential correction that’s not just a matter of relying on bureaucrats to use a little common sense when they try to open your wallet & take their “fair share.”
But bloggers aren’t the only ones upset with the city’s tax structure. In June, City Council members Bill Green and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez unveiled a proposal to reform the city’s business privilege tax in an effort to make Philly a more attractive place for small businesses. If their bill passes, bloggers will still have to get a privilege license if their sites are designed to make money, but they would no longer have to pay taxes on their first $100,000 in profit. (If bloggers don’t want to fork over $300 for a lifetime license, Green suggests they take the city’s $50-a-year plan.)
Their bill will be officially introduced in September.
The paper rightly points out that it doesn’t fix the business license requirement, and it still may mean they would have to pay more in taxes than they earn if they aren’t a large site. That’s a legit concern, but just like most things, fixes will come a step at a time.
The other good news is that this was a Drudge headline for a while, so it should drum up enough anger around the country to shame Philadelphia bureaucrats into behaving like reasonable adults for the time being. But, for any bloggers looking to escape, there are some lovely houses for sale in our suburban neighborhood.
“An Entire Group of Reasonable People Expressing Their Constitutional Rights”
That’s what Jon Stewart calls NRA members.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Extremist Makeover – Homeland Edition | ||||
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Watch the clip, and wait for the entire segment. Â It is a great reminder of what a powerful speaker Charlton Heston really was when he was presiding over the NRA. Enjoy the video. You won’t hear top lefty entertainers say this too often: “The point is, I was wrong and Heston was right. … He’s still right.” (Video found via Radley.)