As we end the year and I continue to reflect, I thought it would be fun to look back at the year that was 2008. I’ll start with noting 2008 deaths then go into the top and bottom performers as I call them throughout the year.
IN MEMORIAM (a tribute to some of those who left us in 2008)
- Aunty Genoa Keawe, legendary Hawaiian entertainer (February 25)
- William F. Buckley, Jr., conservative commentator (February 28)
- Aloha Airlines passenger service (March 31)
- Keahi Allen, longtime Lunalilo Trust trustee (April 7)
- Tim Russert, “Meet the Press” host (June 13)
- Bryan Baptiste, Mayor of Kauai (June 22)
- Tony Snow, former White House Press Secretary (July 12)
- Michael Crichton, “Jurassic Park” author and “ER” creator (November 4)
- Bob Nakasone, State Representative (December 7)
- AQ McElrath, UH Emeritus Regent, labor and social activist (December 11)
- W. Mark Felt, “Deep Throat” (December 18)
- Majel Barrett, First Lady of Star Trek (December 18)
TOP PROP OF THE YEAR
The American people, for electing Barack Obama the next President of the United States. He is the first African-American person and the first Hawaii-born person elected president.
BOTTOM SLOP OF THE YEAR
Mesa Air Group’s go! Airlines. Honestly, was there any doubt? It should have been abundantly clear that this would be my top slop of the year. Remember when they helped to drive Aloha out of business? Or when someone at go! followed me on Twitter (and led me to start this blog)? Even worse, remember the time I had to fly on go!? How about when they added insult to injury and tried to take over the Aloha brand? And finally, remember how their PR guy tried to “sell” that subterfuge to us?
Hawaii Prop of the Year
Kamehameha Schools’ Imi Naauao Post-Baccaulaureate Merit-Based Scholarship. Through their genorisity, I was able to obtain my Master’s degree. While only their Spring 2008 disbursement occurred this year, I received their assistance for the entire duration of my two-year program. Two other members of my cohort received this scholarship and I am sure they are as appreciative as I am. And now, I can append “MPA” to my name on my business cards, resume, etc.!
Hawaii Slop of the Year
Hawaiian Electric Company for allowing Oahu’s island-wide power grid to go down, again, the second time since 2006. That’s 293,000 customers, countless tourists, and lots of businesses that were more than “inconvenienced” by this. As Larry Geller points out, the worst part is that they seemed clueless and helpless throughout this ordeal. Again, I say this as a Hawaiian Electirc Industries shareholder. While this PR snafu may be bad, HEI is still a pretty good stock to own. I’m not giving investment advice, just sharing my opinion.
Tech Prop of the Year
iPhone 3G. It most recently helped me make it through the blackout, but it has proven itself time and again this year – and I’ve only had it since July. By the way, I’m not the only one who loves it.
Honorable Mention: PodCamp Hawaii, for helping me and others to blog, blog, blog. And I’m glad for all the friends I made there. I sure hope we do it again!
Tech Slop of the Year
Sprint for their horrible customer service as a wireless carrier. I was waiting to leave them for over a year. And now that I have my iPhone, I have a better device as well as better customer service over at AT&T. No longer will I have to wait months for tech support to call me back, wait on hold for hours to speak to someone, or get overcharged for my service.
Political Prop of the Year
New Hampshire for electing the first female majority in its State Senate. Now that’s progress and something I like to hear or read in the news.
Political Slop of the Year
Mark Edward Bainum. You know him as “Duke” Bainum and he receives slops for his last-minute shenanigans: hopping on a plane from Arkansas despite being MIA for four years since losing to Mayor Mufi Hannemann, renting an apartment on the last day to file, and filing to run for Ann Kobayashi’s Council seat. It sounds incredulous that he wasn’t tipped off to Ann Kobayashi’s last-minute vacating of her Council seat, but that’s the story they want us to believe. It’s not impossible, but it is highly improbable. After some challenges to Rep. Kirk Caldwell’s candidacy, all of this resulted in Bainum winning his City Council seat unopposed.
I used to like Duke and was even on his mayoral campaign. That is until I found out he supported mandatory lease-to-fee conversion. Simply put, it’s the government’s ability to steal your land for a non-public purpose. Building a road is one thing, but taking it so a developer can build a hotel is a whole different story.
Again, Bainum will have to deal with all the frustrations of all those disgruntled voters in District 5. I’m one of them! As a constituent, I’ll be keeping an eye on him.
Finally, just a reminder, you can quickly find past Props and Slops by clicking on the “Props and Slops” tab on my blog header.
Mahalo!
[...] made news earlier this year by giving up his safe House seat to mount a run for City Council after 2008 Political Slop of the Year Duke Bainum flew to Hawaii just in time to establish residency and run for the seat. After Caldwell was [...]
[...] Mokulele Airlines for coming to my brother’s rescue when 2008 Slop of the Year go! Airlines gave away his seat even though he checked in over 30 minutes prior to departure. [...]
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