Christmas

Just to show we have some Christmas spirit here. Christian, Shandra and family arrived Saturday afternoon. Whit, Jim and Ever just arrived, and we're hoping Court will make it (if United doesn't mess her up) late tonight. We'll miss Rob and Anna and keiki but are looking forward to a great holiday.

Jackson

Our little friend was back yesterday.

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Black Friday

Christian, Shandra and family come over for the long weekend. Thanksgiving dinner was perfect -- sorry no pix. We spent the nation's busiest shopping day at Waialea beach.  The ads just didn't do it for us.  Tristan had fun on the rope swing.  Tough little creature!

 

The rest of the family.

 

The view

We were joined mid-day by the Whittles and Ian Lindsey and son.  It was a lovely day.

Turkey Day

The turkeys are getting bolder and bolder. The other day they were on our front porch. This morning they were on the roof outside our bathroom window. They did look a bit forlorn -- like they didn't know how to get down? or maybe were feeling suicidal? Don't they know that Thanksgiving is coming soon?

Wyoming Visit

After our wonderful reunion week, Court and I spent a few days with Mom. (I hope to post on the reunion, but with such great posts from Court, Anna and Shandra, so far, mine won't add much.)  On Wednesday, Court headed for Rock Springs, Wyoming, to pick up Dani for their hiking adventure in the Wind River Range. Mom, Liz and I headed for Afton, a visit to the cemetery and our next big adventure. The headstone at the cemetery had been recently placed and was lovely.

Thursday morning we took off in Terry's plane for Torrington.  It was hazy across much of Wyoming from the many fires in the Rockies.  Here was a view of the Wind River Range as we approached South Pass.

Cousin Dick met us at the airport and took us to a facility where Aunt Eleanor is staying near her home.  We surprised her and enjoyed lunch together.  Aunt Eleanor will be 99 in November.  She looked great!

We left Mom and Aunt Eleanor to visit for a bit, and Dick gave us a grand tour, including the cemetery where Grandma and Grandpa Hastings are buried.  We drove by the old homes, visited the college campus and had a great afternoon seeing Torrington after all these years.  I don't think I had been back since Grandpa's funeral in the fall of 1966.

We spent a great evening at the Vandel home visiting with family.  The next morning, we took off for Afton.  I took a few more pictures.  This is near Laramie Peak, I believe, not too far out of Torrington.

We watched the maps and the roads below, as we made our way across a lot of brown plains.  Finally, we approached the south end of the Wind Rivers again.

Approaching the Wyoming range on the East side of Grey's River.

 

Grey's River road below.

Approaching the Salt River Range.

 

Nearing the Valley

 

Afton as we circled before landing.

We had a great two days.  I love flying, and the flights were relatively smooth over the mountains.  Thanks to Terry, we got to see Aunt Eleanor, Dick and family again after so long.

Priceless

Excellent discussion of what's wrong with our current health care system, and how we are continuing down the wrong track.  Goodman supports my belief that most of our problems are a product of the perverse incentives and unintended consequences of well-intended laws.  He reports such findings as that when individuals are paying for a portion of their own care they spend substantially less on health care with no noticeable difference in outcomes.  Heath insurance isn't really insurance against risk at all; it's actually prepayment for normal healthcare needs.  Insurers are incentivized to overtreat the healthy and undertreat the sick.  They advertise for the healthy and try to avoid those with forseeable health problems.  Of course, the problem with losing health insurance when you change jobs is entirely a function of getting insurance through your employer, in turn a function of the tax benefit of employer-provided insurance, which in turn was largely a product of wage and price controls during World War II.  Government programs (Medicare and Medicaid) underpay providers, hence, many providers won't accept those on government programs.  Consequence?  One-third of emergency room visits are by Medicaid patients who don't have a primary care physician.  And in countries with national health care systems, access to primary care physicians is easier and to specialists is harder.  Hence, the higher mortality rates in places like the UK and Canada than in the US for many forms of cancer. 
  Anyway, any book that supports my beliefs is a great book.  I highly recommend it.

Published Again!

For the benefit of those of you who don't receive the West Hawaii Today regularly, I thought I share my latest effort, which appeared in today's paper.  I know these issues may not have much relevance elsewhere but am dying to enhance my notoriety. 

Dear Editor:

As the elections near, I’ve been contemplating two areas that ought to be addressed before the next election cycle:

First, no one should be declared elected to office after the primary election unless unopposed. In non-partisan races, the top two contenders should move up to the general election, regardless of whether one received more than 50% of the votes in the primary. During the last two presidential elections, two-thirds of Hawaii county voters participated in the general election, but only about 40% voted in the primary election. (In the non-presidential election years, the difference was a little less, but still substantial – about 40% in the primary election, and about 53% in the general.) So a candidate could win in the primary with slightly over half of the votes cast, and lose by a substantial margin in the general election. Why would we want to elect our county leaders in the election with the smaller turnout? Moreover, many voters don’t tune in to the election issues until after the primaries. Hence, it is reasonable to assume the voters would be better informed in November than in August.

Second, recent news reports have indicated that we now have one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country. Maybe one reason is that it appears the elections office never purges the voter rolls. When my wife and I first registered to vote in the late ‘70s, we were told that if we failed to vote in two consecutive election cycles, our names would be removed from the voter rolls, and we would have to reregister if we wanted to vote again. If that were the policy then, it hasn’t been in many years. Two of my children who registered to vote when they were 18 remain on the voter rolls, even though they moved away and haven’t voted here in years – in one case, for seven consecutive election cycles. I can’t help but wonder how many others listed as registered voters have moved away or died. Obviously, our numbers would look better if the rolls were purged of those no longer here. In addition, the possibility for voter fraud would be reduced. It would be very easy for me to apply for absentee ballots for my two absent children and vote for them each election cycle. We need a reasonable policy in Hawaii for regularly purging the voter rolls.

Finally, a curiosity: I’ve been following the partisan rhetoric condemning the new voter ID laws on the mainland with interest. We’ve had a voter ID law in Hawaii since I first arrived over 30 years ago. Now, if the letters to the editor are to be believed, we are the state in which it is most difficult to obtain a driver’s license. Personally, I don’t have any problem with requiring voters to establish they are who they claim to be. But I do wonder why there has been no outrage expressed either locally or nationally over our voter ID law? Could it be because we have reliably voted Democratic for decades? Of course, it would be nice if our rule-makers would simply apply a little common sense and simplify the requirements for a driver’s license.

Bill Hastings

P.S.  Rob and Whit, since you're still registered here, let me know if you'd like an absentee ballot -- or if you'd prefer I just cast a vote on your behalf.

Whew!

I did it! I finally finished this -- it only took four months!  Not the fastest read, but interesting.  Chernow spent more time than I needed trying to explain Washington's views on slavery, revisiting the issue every few chapters -- even when he had little to go on but speculation.  He was similarly fascinated with reporting on Washington's lady friends -- although there was no evidence of anything more than friendships.  And we got a detailed account of each sitting he endured with an artist.  I'd have enjoyed more discussion of Washington's political views.  Chernow covered the Constitutional Convention rather hurriedly with few insights as to Washington's impact.

Chernow reinforced my view from Adams' biography and other historians of Jefferson as the first double-dealing politician.  Hamilton came across as strong-willed, but less manipulative.  (Not sure I'm ready to undertake the Chernow biography of him quite yet.)  Clearly, those who complain that the current partisanship is unprecedented know little of our history.  The hostility of Jefferson toward Hamilton probably rivals any between party leaders today.  And the stakes were higher then, as the nation had no history or tradition of unity and could easily have fallen into a civil war much earlier than it did.  Despite Chernow's frequent efforts to point out Washington's failures or inadequacies, he still ended up being a rather amazing leader, both in war and in peace -- perhaps the only person sufficiently respected throughout the country to have led it through the great transition from colony to independent nation.

Waimea 4th of July

While the rest of the country has been baking and burning, we've been chilly and wet. This afternoon was reasonably nice, so we took a little walk down the Waikoloa Stream through town. It begins behind Anunciation Church and follows the stream down to Kahawai Street. There's a bit of controversy over the plan to pave the trail so emergency vehicles and the handicapped can have access. Meanwhile, we've enjoyed walking through the trees and along the stream.

The valley has greened up a lot over the past month.

Succulents in bloom.

We like the pools and little falls.

Found some poha bushes along the way.  The berries are tasty!

Some orange lichen.

Love the green hills.

Mahana & Ryan Marsh

Yesterday afternoon (Friday the 13th) Mahana and Ryan Marsh were wed in a lovely ceremony down by the stream at Anna Ranch. We were blessed with a pleasant (warm and calm, though overcast) afternoon. The ceremony was followed by a wonderful reception in Anna's Hall. It was nice to see all the family members again.

First, the bride and groom

The Marsh family

 As Ryan took the Marsh name, there is now a prospect for future Marshes in the family!

Whale Watch

Whit, Jim and Ever came to Honolulu for a short visit last Wednesday eve.  I joined the group on Friday for a whale watch off Haleiwa.  Nice day -- not too hot -- and saw several whales.  So nice to be together.  Unfortunately, these are the only pix I took over the weekend.  Most of the morning was a bit overcast and breezy.  Even a few sprinkles.

 Several spinner dolphins followed the boat, both out and into the harbor.  There were a couple of spectacular spinning jumps out of the water right in front of the boat, but didn't get a picture.

All in all, a very nice morning.

Reno

Had a short, but wonderful, visit with Rob, Anna and keiki at the beginning of March en route my annual ACTEC meeting in Miami Beach. The weather was wonderful, fresh snow a few days before my arrival, and I got to see the kids' new home. Saturday, Lu, Tucker and Anders and I went skiing on Mt Rose. (Rob had to work and couldn't ski anyway with his broken/sprained thumbs.  Anna had to prepare for a party.)  We did a few runs together in the morning, then the kids had a two-hour lesson, while I skied alone. The snow was good and the scenery was gorgeous!

We returned home in time for a birthday party for Tucker with several of his friends.  Here was the futile effort (until later) to get a fire started with flint and steel.  (Note injured thumbs.)

Sunday after church, we had another opening on Tuck's real birthday.

After lunch, we went back up the mountain past the ski area and did a little snowshoeing.  Beautiful weather again.  Lu, Andy and Clara stayed near the parking area and did a little sledding.

When we returned, Andy and Clara were in snow caves, covered with sleds.

Monday, Rob had to go to Elko, so after the kids went to school, Anna took me over to see Lake Tahoe.  Again, beautiful weather; clear lake.  We had a wonderful morning.

Tuesday morning it began to snow.  We couldn't even see the airport from the house for the storm.  However, it was raining below at the airport, and no problems getting out.  All in all, it was a wonderful visit.