Rascals need Opponents

Recently, the Maui News editor published a treatise entitled "Rascals Need Opponents." Of course, in their passive-aggressive way, they managed to stick it to one particular Council Member, the one they have doggedly looked to smear for years, and in this particular smear job, they paint him as a "rascal."

Don't get me wrong, I do agree with the premise, "Rascals need opponents." What I do not agree with is who their supposed rascals are. The main rascal in the debate is The Maui News. Owning six newspapers in such a small market does not allow for an alternative voice. The Maui Time Weekly has become almost completely unreadable and Jacob Shafer, the new(ish) editor seems to want to follow in "big brothers" steps and write sniping comments on council members as well.

The rascals do need opponents. We do need alternative voices in Maui County. Since the line between the Chamber of Commerce and Maui News is so blurred, the only voice is the business community. Obviously, the business community concerns itself with one thing: maximizing profits. But this leaves a plethora of people without a voice! The environmental community is practically voiceless in the Maui News. They are constantly lambasted in editorials and letters to the editors. The music community is completely unrepresented in the Maui News. If you were to read it to find out about local music, you'd be hard-pressed to find any information in the Maui News. And politics? The political makeup of the Maui News is severely right-wing. If a politician in Maui runs on a platform of progressive politics, they are always covered in a negative light. And, if you are don't kow-tow to the Maui News editors/writers, you can be sure that you will never receive a fair shake in their editorials.

So where are the opponents to these rascals? Who is going to say, "enough is enough." If the Maui News cannot put aside its pro-business, anti everything else politics, Maui County will continue to suffer under plantation style politics.

Dear Editors,

Dear Editors of The Maui News,

What does this sentence mean?

"Business are doing, leveraging and contributing much."*

The entire crux of the article written by Pamela Tumpap, a Chamber of Commerce lobbyist and general nosy-nellie is, "It is neither the time for more taxes, fees and regulation, nor are they appropriate." However, in the Chamber of Commerce view, there is never a time for any of these things and they continue to lobby all forms of government to lower taxes and to deregulate even further.

We all know where this has led us, we are currently in this financial crisis in part because of government deregulation. Maui cannot afford to let business (and their propaganda sheet, "The Maui News") do whatever they feel like doing. Without regulation, we would not have the anti-pollution laws, building codes or general business practices we currently enjoy here on Maui and we may not impose strict enough regulations on certain businesses in Maui County. Moreover, The Chamber of Commerce supports council members such as Molina, Victorino, Pontanilla and Medeiros because these council members do not ask for any concessions from the big developers. If the COC and the aforementioned Council members had their way, new sidewalks, water sources and affordable housing would not be built or asked for. In fact, not a single affordable home would be built, if it wasn't for strict regulation.

The business community was the catalyst in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and continues to operate in the same fashion. They seek and destroy any government official that gets in their way and slander them in newspapers such as Maui News. We deserve better than this.

*(c) The Maui News, June 20th, 2009.

Maui News Changes Headline

Yesterday's headlines, when describing George Bush's speech in Pennsylvania read:

"George Bush Criticizes Obama's Polices" News Room America

"Bush Takes Swipe at Obama's Policies"Washington Times

"Bush Breaks Silence, Goes After Obama in Speech" Huffington Post

But what does the Maui News write?

"Bush hopes closing Guantanamo won't risk U.S. Security" and then the sub head reads:

"But he says he won't criticize Obama"

In this particular story, the Maui News adds a new sub-headline to their story, thereby creating a new subtext for their article.

The Maui News

The Maui News is owned by the Ogden Group (the same group that has been accused of election tampering). The Maui News is a right-wing and anti-union paper and uses their bully pulpit to silence any critic of their business community pals. They do not print stories that are favorable to smart politicians. In fact, when Michelle Anderson retired, they refused to print a story on her accomplishments here on Maui nor did they bother to say farewell. The Maui News needs to understand that the community on Maui has had enough -we deserve better than what they are printing and their right-wing propaganda does not reflect our community!

I will be using this blog as a sort of "Media Matters" type of watchdog, where I will retort all their distortions and lies.

Here's some links about the Maui News corporate overlords:

Washington Post

Irregular Times

Topix