TULSI GABBARD'S RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY CRASHES

I've never really talked much to Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.  However, a decade ago I advised her father, Mike Gabbard, who was then a Hawaii State Senator still there) and chairman of the energy committee.  Amazingly enough, he is the first Samoan to serve in the Hawaii Legislature, and has been a State Senator since 2006.  He was born in American Samoa, was once a Republican, and has long opposed marriage to same-sex couples.

Tulsi is 37 years old and at 21 was the youngest woman ever to be elected to a U.S. state legislature.  Her first marriage made her a Tamayo at that age.   She graduated from Hawaii Pacific University and served in the Hawaii Army National Guard in Iraq and Kuwait.  She is the first Samoan-American and first Hindi  to be a member of the U.S. Congress.  On 11 January 2019 she announced her campaign to seek the Democratic nomination for President of the USA in 2020, and if she prevails in November of 2020, she will become the youngest POTUS ever.

What appears to be derailing her is her religion.  Her father is Catholic.  Her mother, from Indiana, is a practicing Hindu.  Tulsi selected her mother's calling as a teenager.  Her second marriage was to Abraham Williams, whose family is also linked to the Hindu guru mentioned below. 

On Sunday, the Star-Advertiser had two rather startling articles by Sophie Cocke (right).  One in particular, Chris Butler and Science of Identity Foundation criticize media, decline interview, indicated:

• The spiritual leader of the Science of Identity Foundation is Chris Butler from Hawaii:

• is a religious organization in the Hindu Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition
• opposes LGBT
• threatened to sue the Star Advertiser for allegations, most likely through Ireland, which has favorable anti-defamation laws
• President Jeannie Bishop, Congresswoman Gabbard and Butler declined to be interviewed

The other Cocke article said:

• Tulsi identified Butler as her spiritual master in a 2015 video.
• This goes back to 1970 when Oahu's Sunset Beach had a Hare Krishna alter led by 22-year old surfer Sai Young, with 45 devotees.

• Nearly 50 years later, Sai Young is now known as Jagad Guru Siddhaswarunpananda Paramahamsa, and also by the name given to him by his parents, Chris Butler.  His father was a prominent doctor on Oahu.
• Both of her parents became followers of Butler's teachings, and while her father returned to Catholicism, Carol, her mother, was secretary of the Science and Identity Foundation (SIF) from 1990 to 1999.

• Further back, in the late 1970's SIF secretly inspired the Godly Government party, fielding more than a dozen races in Hawaii political races.  
• One of the candidates was Bill Penaroza, who ran for Congress.
• His son, Kainoa Penaroza (right), is now Congresswoman Gabbard's chief of staff.
• Mother in law, Anya Anthony, is Tulsis office manager.
• Said reporter Jerry Burris, there was nothing nefarious:

There were a lot of people like that in those days.  All they wanted to do was surf and eat vegetables and be healthy.

Their agenda included things like slow or no growth and self-sufficiency for Hawaii, ideas that remain mainstream in today’s Hawaii politics. But the group’s virulent stances against homosexuality were much more controversial.

• In 1991, Carol and Mike Gabbard in 1991 led a group called Stop Promoting Homosexuality, an effort of SIF.  
• As much has she has tried to disclaim her early support of her father's mission, just this obvious connection could well be sufficient to derail her presidential ambitions.

• If you've been into Down to Earth, the health food store, many staffers are SIF members.
• The Lanikai Cult you might have heard about?  Chris Butler is the source.

Then on Tuesday, Politico reported:  Tulsi Gabbard campaign in disarray.  

• Campaign manager Rania Batrice and consulting firm Revolution Messaging will depart this weekend.
• Batrice served as deputy campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential bid.

At this point Gabbard has only crashed.  She could yet recover, but the above facts seem condemning.

-

THE PROMISE OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

My first research project when I joined the University of Hawaii was with the Hawaii Geothermal Project.  By any measure, we were truly successful, as we drilled the hottest geothermal well in the world and produced 2.2 megawatts for the Big Island grid.

I was especially proud of Noi'i O Puna, which then was the counterpart to the Natural Laboratory of Hawaii on the other side of island doing OTEC work.  To quote from my blog:

Interestingly enough, in community polls, NOP was just about the only geothermal activity that had a positive register with the local people.  We had hopes for works of art from the silica byproduct, exciting new fabric designs, Hawaiian onsens for eco-tourism, and a wide range of innovative industries for the Big Island.  Read the details from a paper I co-wrote 26 years ago and you will agree with me that the timing is perfect to resurrect this initiative for Puna.  Now that geothermal energy appears to have re-gained support in the region, the time has come to re-explore these geo-co-products potential.

The governor of Hawaii then was George Ariyoshi.

To quote again:

Alas, Judge David Ezra effectively killed this option from large-scale development:

Judge David Ezra, the Federal Judge, sided with the environmentalists, rain forest advocates, marijuana growers and local residents, almost all who opposed the possible economic turmoil, environmental insults, religious connotations and general noise and smells of this resource, effectively killing widespread development for the State of Hawaii. 

Mind you, geothermal energy is not in the form of clean steam.  The fluid comes up with carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, methane and ammonia.  The liquid can contain mercury, arsenic, boron and antimony.  The operation has been known to trigger earthquakes.  You can smell the hydrogen sulfide, which has the odor of rotting eggs.  However, in the resort town of Rotorua, New Zealand, and parts of Japan, this smell is considered to be therapeutic.  Alll energy sources have pluses and minuses.  Would you rather burn coal, or live next to a nuclear powerplant?  NIMBY runs rampant with geo-power.

I surely must have published a dozen geothermal energy summaries in this blog, and here is one from 2012:

    GEOTHERMAL ENERGY TODAY

Did you know, for example, that in 1881, King David Kalakaua visited Thomas Edison to discuss the potential of volcano power on the Big Island and transmit electricity to the other Hawaiian islands?

In 2010, the USA was #1 at 3086 MW, Philippines #2 at 1904 MW and Indonesia #3 at 1197 MW.  Today:

1. United States – 3,639 MW – with an additional 48 MW just added before the year-end
2. Indonesia – 1,948 MW – short of 95 MW planned to be added before year end
3. Philippines – 1,868 MW – no update to be had on projects that were to come online this year
4. Turkey – 1,347 MW – a lot of capacity came online just before the year end to take advantage of favourable feed-in-tariffs

1. New Zealand – 1,005 MW – with 25 MW in commission just before the year end, the country just managed to get back into the 1 GW Geothermal Country Club
2. Mexico – 951 MW – with an exciting new incentive and support scheme, things might be moving further in the coming years
3. Italy – 944 MW – with the current political climate, this number might not change much soon
4. Iceland – 755 MW – adding another 45 MW early last year
5. Kenya – 676 MW – with the pipeline of projects, the country will jump the rankings soon
6. Japan – 542 MW – news on small-scale development don't hide that things are not evolving much.

In a way you could say that nothing much changed during that 8-year period, and, in fact, the Philippine production dropped.  The top producers in the U.S. are California (2,732 MW), Nevada, (518 MW), Utah (48 MW), Hawaii (38 MW--which of course is now down to zero because of the Lower Puna Eruption) and Oregon (33 MW).

My sense is that Hawaii might never again drill for geothermal energy, and mostly because all the promising fields are located right over volcanic rift zones:

While there is nagging community resistance around most geothermal fields, the reason why this resource will expand is that, unlike intermittent solar energy and wind power, the production is baseload and it is the CHEAPEST way to produce electricity:

Less costlier than coal, nuclear and, even, natural gas.  Wind energy is the closest renewable energy to geothermal.

Why is there geothermal energy?  The core of our planet is 7,200 F hot.  Some of this internal heat finds its way to the surface through cracks.  Where there is water, steam is formed and geothermal reservoirs are created.

In 2009 Iceland began drilling down to a depth of 6906 (a few hundred feet deeper than HGP-A).  They hit a large magma chamber, the source of all their geothermal energy.  Not the first time, for scientists drilling disposal well  in Puna, Hawaii in 2008 also struck lava, at a depth of 8202 feet.  Both magma and lava are molten rock, and the only difference is location:  lava reaches the surface.

So, then, why not tap magma?  Turns out in the mid-70's, I submitted a proposal to drill for this resource from the cooling lake of lava from the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption.  They laughed.

So I've been watching what the Los Alamos National Laboratory has been doing with the concept of hot dry rock geothermal energy, a project that began in 1970.  The standard geothermal reservoirs, with water and steam, are quite rare.  HDR (hot dry rock) reservoirs make up 98% of all potential geothermal sources. 

There is even a book on the subject, Mining the Earth's Heat:  Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Energy.  But are you ready to spend more than $200?

In 2005, an 18-member assessment panel, led by Jeff Tester (left), determined that Enhanced (or engineered) Geothermal Systems (EGS), mostly hot dry rock with fracking and addition of water, could become a major supplier of electricity for the U.S. by 2050.  They published The Future of Geothermal Energy in 2006.  Amazingly enough, the USA has the largest potential of geothermal energy reserve in the world!

-

HOW DONALD TRUMP CAN WIN THE 2020 PRESIDENCY

My first thought when Howard Schultz announced his intended run for the presidency as an independent, was, brilliant, somehow, the slick and tricky mind of Donald Trump found the key to his victory in 2020 by splitting the Democratic vote, for Schultz is a liberal.  But wait, this can't be a conspiracy, for while chairman of the Starbucks board, he is shown a year ago in a leaked tape to be concerned that Trump was hurting the American economy.  Two months later, he stepped down as chairman.

Back in 2015, presidential hopeful Donald Trump, mentioned something about boycotting Starbucks, and threatened to kick out the coffee shop from his New York Trump Tower.  Already, Schultz was talking about becoming the liberal Trump.

The Donald, of course, can't let something like this go unmentioned, so yesterday tweeted:

Howard Schultz doesn’t have the “guts” to run for President! Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the “smartest person.” Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!

99.4K

3:41 AM - Jan 28, 2019

Thus, it doesn't look like this is a typical Trump conspiracy tactic.  Leading Democrats,  however, were appalled.  Michael Bloomberg, for one, said that there is no way an independent can win.  Especially as Bloomberg also looks like he will soon toss his hat into the ring as a Democrat.

PBS, of course, has a documentary on Independents and the havoc they created.  They might not win, but they certainly reversed the outcome.

Go back to 1912 when William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt, running as an independent, split the Republican vote, allowing Woodrow Wilson to sail in as president.

In 1992, Ross Perot, as a third party candidate, won 19% of the votes, "helping" Bill Clinton beat incumbent George H.W. Bush.  In 1996 Perot ran from the Reform Party and got 8% of the vote, enough to prevent Republican Bob Dole from beating besmirched Bill Clinton (remember Monica?).

Perhaps the most blatant was Ralph Nader of the Green Party, who in 2000 most definitely was responsible for Republican George W. Bush upsetting Democrat Al Gore.  The difference was in Florida, where Bush won by fewer than 600 votes.  Nader siphoned off nearly 100,000 votes.  Also too, in New Hampshire, Nader's 22,000 votes were triple the size of Bush's margin there.  Just this difference, without that Florida loss, would have given Gore the presidency.

You think Democrats are petrified about a serious Independent candidate in 2020?  Absolutely.  Nader was a well-intentioned candidate who screwed up the country.  Shultz?  Hope he is smarter than that.

Will Trump find a way?  Hey, don't you want to KEEP America Great?

-

THE FAVOURITE, ESCAPE ROOM and ROMA

My two films this weekend were:

                         ROTTEN TOMATOES  MY RATING
                         Reviewers    Audiences

The Favourite       93                62                  C+

Escape Room        55                59                  B+

I just hate these period historic settings, especially of royalty in the UK, for I have some difficulty understanding what they're saying, like in Downton Abbey.  I went to The Favourite only because they have five prime Oscar nominations.  Certainly, Olivia Colman as Queen Anne, was exceptional, and could well win Best Actress.  Both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz made the list for Best Supporting Actress.  All three were deserving.  Yorgos Lanthimos was named for Best Director, and this film is up for Best Picture.

The ratings were about right.  Reviewers loved it, and I was barely tolerant.  The movie is randy, raunchy and mostly predictable.  The ending was a bit odd.

Queen Anne ruled from 1702 to 1714, when she passed away at the age of 49.  She was sickly and obese.  Anne had 17 "children," but none lived into adulthood.  The movie mostly had to do over a few month period of her relationships with her two ladies in waiting, one, Sarah Churchill, who practically ran Great Britain because of Anne's health condition.  Here they are in happier times, today.

I went to Escape Room only because it was the only film available in my open time slot.  The ratings were bad...BUT, THIS COULD WELL HAVE BEEN THE MOST INTERESTING MOVIE I'VE SEEN IN MONTHS!

From Wikipedia:

An escape room, also known as an "escape game", is a physical adventure game in which players solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints, and strategy to complete the objectives at hand. Players are given a set time limit to unveil the secret plot which is hidden within the rooms. 

The only difference with the film is that people die and all the threat is real.  It ended with a preview on the next Escape Room.  I'm going.

You really don't know any of the performers.  It cost only $9 million to make, but has already grossed $76.5 million.  If they can somehow enhance #2, this could go on for a long time.  Much of the action will occur on a commercial jetliner, just what I need for the almost dozen flights I will catch over the next two months.

I might add that if you're waiting to see Roma, the film that won the Golden Globes Best Motion Picture (foreign language) award and is up for Best Picture on February 24 at the Academy Awards ceremony, it'll never make it to your movie theater.  But, you can see it for FREE on Netflix.  However, you need to be a member, although the price is going up to $13/month in Hawaii.  Rotten Tomatoes gave this Mexican film 96%/83% ratings.

-

KAKAAKO IS BECOMING THE GATHERING PLACE

I was born in Kakaako (Queen's Hospital) 13 years after that above map was published.  This was the active urban area between downtown Honolulu and Waikiki.  I grew up on Ahui Street, which ends on the makai end where today sits 53 By the Sea.  I walked barefeet, certainly through Pohukaina Elementary (where the school grounds could well be used to build the largest high-rise in town, 650 feet tall, and into which Pokuhaina Elementary could return), and even through my career at Central Intermediate School.  Shoes came when McKinley High School required them.  My gang of dozen were all Japanese, while the lane I lived on had mostly duplex buildings, with the occupants being dominantly Japanese.  Interestingly enough, it's almost like returning to my roots, for 15 Craigside must be 90% Oriental.

Forty percent of the lands here are now owned by Howard Hughes and Kamehameha Schools.  They have slightly differing visions, with Hughes into elegant skyscrapers and Kam featuring living spaces for the needier around boutique retail shops and restaurants.  I once lived in the middle of the below display:

An attractive magnet for Kakaako is the coming Honolulu Rail Transit Civic Center and Kakaako Stations:

Kam School is partnering with Stanford Carr to build "affordable" apartments, like Keauhou Place.  You know what affordable is in Honolulu?  Most of the apartments are on sale for a million dollars or more.  My home is now long gone, but the warehouse which sits over it is a block away.  A boy from Kula, Maui, he was born the year I graduated from Stanford.

Mind you, there are groups concerned about willy-nilly development, and I recall Sharon Miyashiro expressing particular caution during our golfing sessions several years ago.  Save Our Kakaako was a big issue then.  As a former resident, I thought almost any high rise was an improvement from the old Kakaako (As We Know It, by Marsha Gibson.).    Sharon's Kakaako activism and visibility on Think Tech Hawaii led to her recent election as a State Senator.  From Honolulu Civil Beat:

In the 1940s, Kakaako was developing industrially, educationally and morally, according to an excerpt read by Sean Shodahl, co-founder of the nonprofit Interisland Terminal.

It used to be a place notorious for its stories of gangsters and hoodlums, spiking fear and hate by people who lived elsewhere. But those stories were disappearing and everything was changing to meet the progress of civilization.

The excerpt read by Shodahl said that Kewalo Basin was dredged about 15 years earlier and so the neighborhood was filled with coral and sand. Houses were scattered here and there, and many didn’t have a coat of paint and few had garages.

In the late 1940s, what was once purely residential was becoming an area for business, according to an excerpt read by Daniel Kelin II, director of drama education with the Honolulu Theatre for Youth. Tenements were replaced by houses and apartments, which were being replaced by businesses, and as residents became better educated or grew in wealth, they moved to other neighborhoods.

So from a time when Kakaako was a dangerous place to just home for me in the 40's/50's to what today has become a worthy outdoor art museum...the Future Kakaako looms to become Oahu, or The Gathering Place.

-