Kaulapi World

Catching up on some links that I’ve come across earlier this month. I’ve been emailing myself various links and what not that I come accross form time to time, the first one I sent I hade “linkes” in the subject line as a typo that stuck in my mind. Today I have about 5 or so linkes emails in my inbox going back several weeks. Been so busy lately I think this might be a new thing to close out every month on the last entry or so. It also gives a sort of recap on whats been going on in the world. This month I came across google earth and all the related buzz associated with it, obit of a well known Honolulu attorney, closing scares for pearl harbor in the latest BRAC round, global pau hana, article on dupont circle wi-fi and of course more economic analysis, and war perspectives and analysis.

pitbull vs porcupine: the aftermath.

End of July and I’ve survived another DC heatwave. Temps pushed into the 100s with the heat index, today was the first time it went below 85, a welcome change to the humidity and baking walks outside. Its this time of year when I really feel like just camping out inside my apartment and just chilling out. I guess having a car around this time of year would be nice afterall.

The cicadas are back, I swear I saw one walking on the sidewalk, and there are patches of brown leaves on the big trees on my street, along with the telltale familiar singing in the early evening. Maybe some of them missed the 17 year party last year and decided to come out a bit later.

Trying to work out a trip back home before school starts. So far its looking like it’ll work out all right, I’m also juggling my next rotation at work, hopefully both will work out somewhat as planned to give me a good boost into the formal legal profession. have to admit that it’ll be good to go home, chill out and unwind a bit. I’m enjoying the type of work I’m doing now 10 fold but it can be a little intense at times, due to the subject nature, and the ambition levels of the various people I’ve been teaming up with on jobs. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll be able have it both ways for now, if not then I’ll have some tough decisions down the road.

I think this city can get to you after a while in more ways than one, it’ll be good to have a chance to stretch out the roots a bit whatever that may entail. for me I think its really just the sense of place and a simple existence that does the trick.

Another week, and another incident on the London Underground, two weeks to the day. You have to admit that the psychological edge that the attackers have on a n unwitting public is tremendous, even with little or no casualities there is still an impression made. Especially on a system that is so open and crowded, it makes a very effective soft target for an attack. I kind of had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be an isolated incident that would just fade into the background of public consciousness, much how 7-7 and 3-11 and in more ways surprising, 9-11 has become. I’m sad realize I was right on this point.

And just today a suspect was shot 5 times in one of the tube stations, either as he was boarding, or already boarding a train wearing a large coat in the middle of summer. The police presence on wmata has been increased, even more so today. I’ve been reading reports of random back searches that are starting on the NYC transit lines and the washington metro may follow suit shortly.

Another thing that struck me was the fact that London is supposedly one of the most watched cities in terms of government surveillence, immediately after the bombings we have grainy still photos of suspects, aiding law enforcement. Not enough of a deterrance afterall, it brings to mind a saying I once heard about sacrificing liberty or privacy for the promise of security.

Mid-july, on the brink of a heatwave, and war is spreading in the middle east. Seems like the past week has been marked with rapid escalation of bombings, airstrikes, rocket attacks, and casulties. It all happened so quickly it was surprising to see the newsreporters talking about bustling cafes and tourists in the “venice of the middleast” which quickly turned into a war zone. The recent developments are disturbing, mostly by the callous tactics on both sides, the bombing of civilian infrastucture and residential areas by the IDF, which are superior in terms of firepower and technology - and the kidnapping of soldiers by Hezbollah, reminiscant of the kidnapping and beheadings of western hostages in iraq broadcasted on the internet.

However I think what is most disturbing is the pathetic situation the US has been left as far as being able to broker any kind of a peace deal, or even a temporary cease-fire. In the past the US at least had an arguement, although cynical one, in being at least a somwehat credible peace broker to the ongoing palestinian-isreali conflict. This credibility and potential is gone now that we’re busying playing crusader. Its relaly hard to argue that you are in an impartial, nuetral situation with 145,000 troops occupying a neighboring country that are getting shot at and blown up daily. It is even harder to argue integrity in a peace process when some of these very same troops are committing war crimes that would amount to rape, murder and good old fashioned pillaging.

I’m hoping that this new conflict will be resolved peacefullly, but the cynical side of me thinks that this time it might be fore keeps. surprisingly enough, I have heard of a segmant of people who are cheering this on for, ironically, religious reasons. Kill the infidels, sure why not.

On a lighter note, I’ve been stumbling on more international reggae music courtesy of youtube - I’m digging this reggae singer Pushim - browsing around on the web I found some more clips and another video posting for some song called Bulldog” - has a good beat and groove to it, although I can’t quite get used to the Japanese lyrics mixed with random English words.

Got into a conversation on the then hot topic of the recent missle tests by N Korea, ot into the US military stance in E & SE asia regarding a potential confrontation with N Korea over a pre-emptive strike by Japan, or and/or a conflict with China over Taiwan declaring independence. speaking in hypothetical scenarios of course, he seemed overconfident of the US military ability to fight a triple fronted war against multiple adversaires, and that maintaining a naval blockade of China would not have any negative effects on the US and global trade economy. Granted on paper on certain specific points I could not disagree with him, I was a little taken aback by how hawkish he was about exerting US military capabilities so far so soon.

of course, there was also the cultural relativity question, being from Hawaii and perhaps ignoring the colonial and plantation and contract labor elements of our shared history, I would hope that any intelligent individual would have benefittd from that kind of perspective when looking at the current state of world affairs. The economic and political forces that granted a lot of Hawaiians and plantation immigrants their American citizenship were driven by global conquest and capitalistic missions of self-interest. The massive profits of the few and powerful were made from the blood sweat and tears of the weak, the immigrant, the poor. You might think that knowing this history one would inevitably question the motives and what the actual benefit to society does this approach have both in the short and long run. applying the economic arguement beyond the strict bottom line and think of it in terms of human captial and moral captial.

Eventually I asked if he had ever considered serving in the military given his hawkish stance, of course he said no. The next question would’ve been if he had any relatives or close friends in the military that might be sent into harms way, but I thought better of it, figuring I proabably already knew the answer to that question as well. Of course the third question would’ve been whether he would be a draft resister if the US ever has to start the draft boards up again to make up for a shortage of troops, or whether he would go willingly with the affirmed confidence he has in the capabilities of our armed forces to keep him out of harms way and unscathed.

I hope I’m wrong in the split-second impression, but I thought it was a pretty convincing illustration of the neo-con mentality that is captivated the country today. Ideally those that are so quick to wage war should be forced to sacrifice just as much as the soldiers who have to fight it on the ground - if you ask me anyone that is so quick to even think about putting others in harms way based on a classroom theory is unfit to lead. I hope that this past administration hasn’t been inspiring the younger generation that this is a proactive way to interact with the rest of the world.

Thought I might comment a bit on the London Underground bombings, being that I now live in a target city for a terrorist attack, not to mention the capitol city of a target country. I first heard about the bombings while I was getting ready for work, and of course, I would be riding metro downtown. Not the most encouraging feeling really.

In a sense, I think what is most disturbing is that the bombings shatter the illusion of safety that this global war on terrorism (GWOT) that has been promoted by the politicos and policy makers all this time. I’ve thought that the whole GWOT was BS shibai from the very beginning, but when you see an attack like this come through it is a wake-up call reaffirmation. I’ve always thought that funds and manpower could be better spent on law enforcement and security at home as opposed to foreign intervention. A part of me longed for the days of living in the low profile, not-so-populated midwest where a potential casualty count is probably too low for terrorists to consider an attack.

With the exception of today, the ridership on the line I ride the most often has been a lot lower than usual, in general you can sense the uneasyness of people in general since last week. The shitty thing about is that there are a number of people who are totally dependent on the train to get around the city, which leaves a state of anomie really when it comes to facing the risks of an attack.

It is a little nervewracking since so many people take the train everyday and mostly unaware about the security or lack of that exists on the metro system. It is an ironic paradox, the benefits of a public transportation system, its accessibilty, massive volume of people moving in and out of the stations, are also its most vulnerable aspect for an attack.

I suppose it takes off a little bit of the irritation and edge that one has watching all of the idiots and inconsiderate riders day in and day out, especially during rush hour no less.

Ran accross a site that brought me back to some of my undergraduate studies once upon a time. I guess I was always more interested in how all this stuff was eventually applied to the real world, this being no exception.

4th of July and it was pretty mellow overall, got some time to chill out and catch up on some reading, slept in, went to a pool party down in Arlington, and then got to watch the fireworks from the rooftop of a building in downtown DC. Time flies from the last time I went down to the Mall to watch the fireworks back in 2003, it seems like it was not too long ago.

Reflecting on my current situation and I suppose I’m at another crossroads in life, about a month away from classes and another chapter. Fitting to have the opportunity here of all places, one of the last places I saw myself 4 years ago.