Cleaning Homeless People from APEC route

 A L O H A !

 click on the photos

The New Colossus

 By Emma Lazarus, 1883

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" 

Cries she with silent lips.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 Jewish-immigrant children wave at the Statue of Liberty.

Photo credit: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

 How's That Working Out?

Honolulu Star Bulletin

By Dan Nakaso

POSTED: 12:45 p.m. HST, Oct 25, 2011

" State prisoners and Department of Transportation landscaping crews are busy clearing homeless people and their belongings from 17 different areas along Nimitz Highway and the H-1 Freeway that will be seen by delegations attending next month's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The week-long clean-up is expected to cost $100,000, said DOT spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.

"We anticipate someone's going to ask us to do it again as we get closer to APEC," Meisenzahl said.

The clean-up crews include 50 DOT landscaping employees and 25 prisoners, Meisenzahl said.

They are primarily focusing on clearing homeless people and their belongings around bridges along the APEC travel routes, Meisenzahl said.

In August, the DOT spent $200,000 just to clear homeless people and their belongings from the H-1 Freeway viaduct near Honolulu Airport.

This week's anticipated $100,000 cost for the viaduct and 16 other locations is much cheaper "because most of them and their stuff is already gone," Meisenzahl said. "

Comment?

America's Purpose

A L O H A !

Please Click on Photos

" No one knows

till he has suffered from the night

how sweet

and dear to his heart

and eye

the morning can be. "

 Bram Stoker

" Joys come

from simple and natural things:

mists over meadows, 

sunlight on leaves,

the path of the moon

over water. "

Sigurd F. Olson

" The only true voyage of discovery 

would not be to visit strange lands 

but to behold the universe

through the eyes of another. "

Proust

> < } } ( ° >

" I pledge allegiance

 to the flag

 of the United States Of America. . .

Lottery & Justice

for all. "

Ours is a nation

founded on ideas,

it's just that we disagree

on exactly what those ideas are.

Lately,

there has been an attempt

to label those who care

about our rising

 undeniable,

un-American 

inequality

as lazy or envious.

"You can still become rich." 

they say.

But I would answer

that when my grand parents

were brought to this country

as children,

their parents wanted them to have

more than a ticket in a game of chance.

America was a place

where no matter who you were

you could live decently

if you were willing to work hard.

And they did work hard.

America

was about her middle class,

and about rising, not falling,

standards of living

for ALL of her people -

not about the chance you had

to get lucky.

Today 

some Americans "earn"

millions & billions.

But many others

who work every day

are falling further

and further

behind.

So what is America for?

Winner takes all?

There is much waste and abuse.

There is much hidden behind the 'news.'

Even as we Americans pay more per-capita

for health care,

we fall further

and further

behind the developed world

in health coverage and outcomes.

Look it up.
Where do those dollars go?

When everything is left to the market,

human beings only have the value

of their bank accounts.

Is THAT liberty?

Or justice for ALL?

Thank you for visiting today!
Leave us your comment
                                                                               Warmly, cloudia

Over the Bridge

A L O H A !

Ala Moana Beach Park, Honolulu

" Difficult times

have helped me to understand

better than before,

how infinitely rich and beautiful
 life is in every way, 

and that so many things 

that one goes worrying about
 are of no importance

whatsoever. "

Isak Dinesen

“He that cannot forgive others,

breaks the bridge

over which he himself must pass 

if he would ever reach heaven;

for everyone

has need to be forgiven”

 

 George Herbert 

“Let every man praise the bridge

that carries him over”

 English Proverb

"The grave is but a covered bridge

Leading from light to light,

through a brief darkness!”

 

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“ The hardest thing in life 

is to know which bridge to cross

and which to burn. ”

 

 David Russell

" The youth gets together his materials

to build a bridge to the moon,

or, perchance, a palace

or temple on the earth,

and, at length,

the middle-aged man concludes

to build a woodshed with them.  "

Henry David Thoreau

" The biggest emotion

in creation

is the bridge to optimism.  "

Brian May

 > < } } ( ° >

     

So much in our lives

could be viewed as a 

transition from one thing

to another.

We go from mother's milk

to solid food.

We transition from home

to school.

We always seem to be

on our way somewhere

else.

Perhaps that's why we love bridges.

They re cathedrals

of going

from one place

to another.

They represent delivery

and freedom;

" The river is wide

and  I just can't get

over."

Moon Bridges were built

as places of contemplation,

both OF their lovely shapes,

and as places

of View.

This one was built during the 

days of the Depression

as a WPA project

to provide meaningful work

and beauty to Honolulu-

kinda what President Obama

wants to do now

with his jobs bill.

Let's enjoy

a contemplative moment

on our rush from Here

to There.

Glad YOU could stand here 

with me for a few moments.

Thank You.

Here's a spray can-

please leave YOUR graffiti

on the 'Comments Wall.'

                                                                           Warmly, cloudia

BONUS BRIDGE:

George Washington Bridge

by Daryl

The purpose of pain

is to keep the child

from touching the stove
again.

ALOHA !

 

 Manoa, the Valley of the Rainbows,

Home to University of Hawaii.  Got my degree in that dome.

" The world is full of suffering,

it is also full

of overcoming it. "

Helen Keller

 Diamond Head beyond the Ala Wai golf course

" Suffering has been stronger

than all other teaching,

and has taught me to understand . . . 

I have been bent and broken, 

but - I hope - into a better shape. "

Charles Dickens

 

There are still some Hawaiians around!

" The world is a looking glass 

and gives back to every man

the reflection of his own face.  "

William Makepeace Thackeray

 > < } } ( ° >

 

Without pain
life is a game.
(Without contentment
grows resentment.)

But pain is more than that,

WE are more than that.

It is a big part of living
on this Earth,
in these bodies.

Those who feel no pain
are dangerous.

Pain teaches us humility,
courage,
and empathy 
for other creatures.

Without pain we are heedless
hurting others needless.

 Thanks for YOUr Visit!

Comments are cherished

                                                                               Warmly, cloudia

 

Apec Coming!

A L O H A ?

  Revered Hawaiian scholar Paki 

explained the  spiritual meaning

represented by each letter of the word Aloha:

A 

stands for AKAHAI,

meaning kindness, expressed with tenderness


 

L

 is for LOKAHI,
 meaning unity,
expressed with harmony.

O

 is for OLU`OLU,
 meaning agreeable,
 expressed with pleasantness.

H

stands for HA`AHA`A,

 meaning humility,
 expressed with modesty.

A

 stands for AHONUI,
 meaning patient and persevering.

The key to life is to live ALOHA everyday!

" By learning to discover

and value our ordinariness,
 we nurture a friendliness

toward ourselves and the world
 that is the essence

of a healthy soul. "

Thomas Moore

Now THIS is gonna be a challenge!

" Let's just face it:

" Shooting here is far better than in Detroit,

The place is magnificent, 

the locals are great. "

George Clooney

on filming in Hawaii

(sorry Detroit poets/friends)

> < } } ( ° >

I live 

in the most densely populated neighborhood

in the Hawaiian Islands,

which means the largest collection

of humans

for thousands of miles 

of open Pacific.

We are ready to greet visitors

and we do it every day!

When the President holidays 

on Oahu,

in his place of birth

and growing up years,

we feel protective of him

and are mostly philosophical

about the motorcades

and street closings.

Plus, he stays on the 

other side, the Windward.

And his visits to town-side,

like taking the girls to

the zoo,

are not too disruptive.

We even welcome officials

from other nations

and afford them

the same courtesy and

protection.

But on November 7th

through the 13th,

21 heads of state

including our President

will be meeting

ALL around here!

The Hawaii Convention Center

is right across the Ala Wai Canal,

and just under my window.

NO paddling for one week!

Already restrictions are being explained

to us.

 click HERE

There will be closed streets,

closed near-shore waters,

and all boats in the Ala Wai Harbor

will be restricted to their berths.

Residents there

(as we were so recently)

will have security check-points

to enter and leave their neighborhood.

No parking for surfers.

The gasoline station

nearest to me

will be restricted to 

"law enforcement & military."

And there WILL be demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the tourist Mecca of

Waikiki 

with our dozens of hotels

and thousands of residents

will have 

NO deliveries by truck

(an every day thing)

for the duration!

Stock up now

(I will)

It feels a bit like a target

is painted on my

paradise.

On the other hand,

this will be the safest,

most secure island

in the world

for one week.

Perhaps I'll visit the demonstrators.

More later.

And thanks for visiting today!

How would YOU feel

about such a summit

in YOUR neighborhood?

Tell us in comments,

                                          Warmly, cloudia