Substitute "government" for "Hawaii" and I think this guy is on to something

The Washington Post ran a piece today on the op-ed page by one of its employees with the headline The Missile Employee Messed Up Because Hawaii Rewards Incompetence.

The author, formerly a public employee in Hawaii and later a journalist there, lays out the background of the incompetent fuck who panicked an entire state:

This week, we learned the man responsible for the bogus Hawaii missile alert kept his job for a decade even though he had a history of performance problems and has been a “source of concern,” according to an Federal Communications Commission report. His co-workers had expressed discomfort about his leadership, and the FCC said he has been “unable to comprehend the situation at hand and has confused real life events and drills on at least two separate occasions.” Although the emergency management supervisor, who remains unnamed, was a union member, he could have been fired at will. Instead, he was promoted to a leadership role. “Why,” Gizmodo understandably wondered, “was the employee in a position to send a false missile alarm to a couple million people?”

The author then attributes this monumental fuck-up to a uniquely Hawaiian situation:

There is a strong assumption in the islands that once you enter the state government system, you are set for life. There are great retirement benefits, union protections and the ability to move up, and laterally, across departments. (According to figures drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hawaii has the second-highest rate of union membership — more than 20 percent — after New York.) The prevailing assumption is: You do not have to work that hard.

Um, I don't know how long this guy has worked in Washington, but he is really missing the point. Yes, unions are part of the problem, but it isn't the state's level of unionization, it is the government's level of union membership. Private sector union membership is in the low single digits. Government employee union membership is about 40 percent. Further, civil service "reform" laws make it virtually impossible to fire government employees, regardless of how bad they are at their jobs. Unlike their private sector counterparts, not only do government employees not need to be good at their jobs (after they get through their first year probationary period, during which they must avoid being caught smoking dope at their desk) they can be just fucking awful at their jobs and still get a cost-of-living raise every year. Automatic raises are strictly a perk of government employment.

Hawaii might be really bad, or even worse than any other state, when it comes to rewarding incompetence. But they are by no means alone. Any system that gives raises regardless of performance, makes it difficult to impossible to fire someone for incompetence and offers generous retirement benefits base solely on whether you managed to avoid that near-impossible firing for incompetence is, by definition, rewarding incompetence. That effectively describes all government employment.

Sure, there are competent, dedicated government employees. No one who has been to get a drivers' license believes those employees are in the majority.

Spam. No, really. Spam.

Having gone to high school in Hawaii, I know full well that Hawaii loves Spam. Trust me, it's well documented. Recently, though, a reader in Hawaii, who I suspect knows me from my high school days, sent me a series of photographs of the varieties of Spam available in Hawaii. I'd be willing to bet that most Mainland residents were not even aware that there are different flavors of Spam available. Well, behold:

And behold:

And behold::

Jesus, this is getting tedious. Behold:

Yeah, behold again:

This is my favorite, though, combining two Hawaiian favorites, macadamia nuts and, yeah, Spam:

Which brings this to mind:

I consider this encouraging

I think a lot of people are starting to notice that Emperor Barry I won't call Islamic terrorists Islamic terrorists. Finally, some of those people are not the usual suspects:

A Democrat congresswoman, who is a military veteran, slammed Barack Obama on Tuesday during an appearance on Fox News’ On the Record with Greta Van Sustern.
Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, from Hawaii, addressed Obama’s refusal to call out Islamic extremism.
“This is not just about words. It’s not about semantics. It’s really about having a real, true understanding of who our enemy is and how important that is, that we have to understand what their motivation is and what their ideology is — the radical Islamic ideology that is fueling them.”

Doesn't bother me that she's from the state where Barry and I went to high school. Or that she's hot:

And surfs. It also doesn't bother me that she also thinks John Kerry is a moron:

Gabbard also slammed Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement that al Qaeda terrorists were participating in “criminal conduct rooted in alienation, poverty, thrill-seeking and other factors.”
She contended, ““If that’s really the cause, then the solution would be just to give them a trophy, give them a hug, give them a good-paying job, $10,000, and a skateboard so they can go and get their thrills and say, ‘OK, great, they are going to be happy and they won’t be fighting anymore.’ That’s not the case.”

Thinking John Kerry is a moron is a sign that you are in touch with reality. Hawaii might be a one-party state, but at least some members of that one party still exercise their brains. Go Tulsi.

This gives a whole new meaning to "Hawaiian dope"

Despite federal laws against the possession and use of marijuana, Washington state and Colorado recently "legalized" the use and possession of small amounts of pot, even opening state-sanctioned (and taxed) stores. While I think this is the proper way to treat pot ( ban it, tax it, whatever, let the states do what they see fit) that really has nothing to do with anything here. No, we need to look at how the attitudes of state governments toward pot are chagnging.

Apparently, those attitudes, at least in some states, are leaning toward  forming a drug cartel. Hawaii's state speaker of the house -- not some back-bench fuck, mind you -- thinks it would be just fucking ducky if Hawaii became a major trafficker in dope:

She promised she hasn’t inhaled, but House Majority Floor Leader Rida Cabanilla is looking to marijuana to solve some of Hawaii financial troubles.
Cabanilla said she hopes to legalize cultivation, manufacturing and exporting of marijuana and marijuana food products in Hawaii to pay off the state’s billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities as well as make infrastructure repairs and fund public education and human services programs.
“This state would turn into a manufacturing state. Can you imagine factories that would be making ‘Maui Wowie’ cookies and making marijuana macadamia nut candy for export? I think that would be wonderful,” said Cabanilla, who represents Ewa Villages, Ewa Beach, Ewa Gentry, Ocean Pointe and West Loch.

Because she's a Democrat, of course she has no vision of eliminating other taxes or reducing the state's unfunded liabilities. Instead, she envisions massive tax revenue to fund government spending that is not now possible:

Hawaii has some $25 billion in debts, encompassing the state retirement system, the public employee union health fund and outstanding bonds. The state also needs billions in repairs for roads, schools and infrastructure.
“I am not even a fan of it. But if that is what it takes for our state to be in the forefront where we can fix our roads, we can build more affordable housing, we can help the homeless — that is the route we should go,” she said.
...
While Hawaii already has among the highest overall taxes inthe nation, Cabanilla said the taxes on marijuana exports would be sky high — at least 25 percent.

Hawaii has been a one-party state since it was admitted to the union in 1959. It is no surprise that state Democrats are casting about for something else to tax the living shit out of. Not surprising that their latest target for taxation is something that isn't even legal. Always thinking ahead, I say.

Catch a wave

Hawaii, where Barry and I went to different high schools together (he rode the bus, I carried my lunch) apparently is in for some massive waves:

An approaching "giant" northwest swell has prompted officials at the National Weather Service to issue a high surf warning for the north and west shores of most islands as waves up to 50 feet are expected.
The warning, scheduled to take effect at midnight tonight and run through 6 a.m. Friday, covers the north- and west-facing shores of Oahu, Kauai, Molokai; the north shore of Maui and the west shore of the Big Isle.
Forecasters expect surf along the north- and west-facing shores of Kauai and Niihau and the north-facing shores of Oahu, Molokai and Maui to reach 40 to 50 feet. Surf along the west-facing shores of Oahu and Molokai are expected to reach 20 to 30 feet, while the west shore of the Big Isle is expected to reach 12 to 18 feet, according to weather officials.

What does a 50-foot wave look like? Weather Service measurements, of course, measure the face of the wave. So-called Hawaiian measurements gauge the height of the wave from behind, which results in the stated height being about half the NWS measurement - what the NWS calls 50-foot waves, in Hawaii they would call 25-foot waves. I think the face is what matters -- after all, that's the part of the wave you're surfing.  So what does a wave that big look like? Something like this"

I realize this is a term of art that non-surfers might not understand, but this is what is referred to as "fucking huge." Or, as the Beach Boys put it: