The annual Statehood Day celebration turned a little bit ugly when words were exchanged between the Pro-Sovereignity and Anti-Sovereignity movements. What is surprising is some of the reports coming from politicians such as Richard Noah Hough in the gutter press  Hawaii Reporter http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?506054a6-97d2-4d0b-8344-464f59bce661 who complained about unregistered protesters. Since when do you have to register to protest and where do you register? Can I register to protest against the election of dumbass politicians? The protest was also covered in the more mainstream media  such as the Star Bulletin http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/19/news/story01.html One of the things that was immediately apparent from the news media coverage on KHNL  http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=5301211 was that this was not so much about Hawaii joining the US as it was about the US now gaining full control of Hawaii. Organiser Sam Slom and others came dressed in costumes such as the Statue of Liberty and waving only American Flags, not a hint of recognition of anything Hawaiian amongst them. While I cannot condone some of the language used by and around some of the children the most disgusting thing of the news broadcast was the attempt by high profile anti-Hawaiian activist Ken Conklin to bite someone. Strangely the Hawaiian Reporter makes no mention of this but then again it is a well known fact that they will publish anything he writes.

 

*Note - sorry about the links but the blog is a little buggy at the moment.

Â