Vacation

So, I go on vacation and get fodder for my blog....only I could do that.

I went to Maui, which by the way, completely rocks, and if you ever go, you should eat at Mama's Fish House. Bring a second mortgage, but it's definitely worth it.
Anyway, during the time I'm there, I learn lots of stuff about Hawaii. Most of it was worthless touristy crap like they get blah-blah inches of rain a year, Mt. Haleakala is 9k feet above sea level, etc. However, I also learned that many of the really cool areas where houses are built are owned by the government, who lease the land to people who are at least 50% 'native-Hawaiian' for pennies on the dollar. Now, the amusing part is that there's actually no such thing as a 'native hawaiian' if you believe the stories of the people who are there now. The people who the European's found living there when the Europeans discovered it actually migrated to Hawaii from Samoa and Tahiti. But, since Hawaii is the capital of nativism (nativism- the act of making yourself feel better about your european heritage of world dominance by offering up property, money, and other items to the decendents of the people that your ancestors beat the hell out of years before to GAIN these items...my word, feel free to use it) it's not about the truth, but about how these acts make you feel.
The other thing I learned was that Hawaiians hate the government, unless they need something. Then, they complain that the government hasn't taken care of them enough. Example: The dam that burst in Kauai that killed at least 7 people. According to what I read, the dam was built to exceed the specs that would have handled up to a 50% increase in water capacity for a normal Hawaiian rainy season. However, since this rainy season has more than doubled the normal rainfall, it gave way. People in Hawaii were losing their damn minds. "How can you guarantee that this sort of thing will never happen again?" I watched someone ask in a public forum on the news in a bar somewhere. I laughed out loud and the people around me looked at me like I was from Mars. Of course, I had to explain that any governmental agency pogue couldn't 'guarantee' shit, but they looked at me like I was speaking Russian. They didn't understand the whole 'shit happens' approach to life. They wanted someone to blame, and someone to tell them everything would be alright and they'd never die.

Kinda like New Orleans. Go figure.

Guess no matter where I go, I find stupid people.