12-17-2015, 06:25 AM
I am as rabid a foaming at the mouth TMT supporter as exists on this island. But I am through flopping on the floor leaving puddles of drool and kicking dents in my walls now. I'm feeling better. The Hawaiians have raised issues they do not realize they have raised.
How is TMT different than a strip mine in West Viriginia that rips billions of dollars of coal out of the ground, and leaves the locals with shacks and dirt roads and an ugly landscape? TMT will harvest data out of the sky, then ship it off to mainland, European, Asian, etc. universities to be analyzed and advance careers of people who never set foot in Hawaii and think Mahalo Nui is some kind of fruit.
That the UH in Hilo does not offer a PhD level course of study in astronomy in its Physics Dept, or a PhD level course of study in Polynesian Navigation cultural traditions in its Anthropology Dept is a pathetic joke. So I suppose those studies are better done on the mainland, or maybe in London or Paris or Tokyo? This situation exists because no one is FUNDING a PhD program in Astronomy. No one is FUNDING a PhD program in Polynesian Navigation cultural traditions. Why is there no funding? It is not for lack of money. It is because the money goes to schools on the mainland, Europe, Asia, etc. Why? Because it no one is stopping it from going there by bargaining hard on behalf of Hawaii. The Hawaii government has been comatose in aggressively pursuing the interests of Hawaii the state and Hawaiians the people in regards to the TMT project.
I still want TMT to be built, but the Hawaiians have raised legitimate issues. They are saying they want to see more on the table this time than trinkets and glass beads. I salute them for this. Maybe their tactics got crude, but they got their message across.
The onus to this point has been to paint the Hawaiians as an ignorant EBT funded mob. That sort of cultural put down is why this entire fiasco has reached this point. That is not going to fly any more.
I want TMT built, but I want to see a PhD program in astronomy at UH, and I want to see a PhD program in Polynesian Navigation at UH, and I want to see aggressive in your face talent search and outreach in all things Hawaiian in the schools of this state and if that is the price to build TMT, then I say to the rest of the world put it on the table or stop pretending TMT matters to you.
Let's build this thing, but it is time to get serious. This issue is a lot bigger than it looks. The natives are realizing what their Manhattan real estate is worth more than is being offered. It is time for straight dealing.
We still haven't found another Earth. Time is running short folks.
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You can't fix Samsara.
How is TMT different than a strip mine in West Viriginia that rips billions of dollars of coal out of the ground, and leaves the locals with shacks and dirt roads and an ugly landscape? TMT will harvest data out of the sky, then ship it off to mainland, European, Asian, etc. universities to be analyzed and advance careers of people who never set foot in Hawaii and think Mahalo Nui is some kind of fruit.
That the UH in Hilo does not offer a PhD level course of study in astronomy in its Physics Dept, or a PhD level course of study in Polynesian Navigation cultural traditions in its Anthropology Dept is a pathetic joke. So I suppose those studies are better done on the mainland, or maybe in London or Paris or Tokyo? This situation exists because no one is FUNDING a PhD program in Astronomy. No one is FUNDING a PhD program in Polynesian Navigation cultural traditions. Why is there no funding? It is not for lack of money. It is because the money goes to schools on the mainland, Europe, Asia, etc. Why? Because it no one is stopping it from going there by bargaining hard on behalf of Hawaii. The Hawaii government has been comatose in aggressively pursuing the interests of Hawaii the state and Hawaiians the people in regards to the TMT project.
I still want TMT to be built, but the Hawaiians have raised legitimate issues. They are saying they want to see more on the table this time than trinkets and glass beads. I salute them for this. Maybe their tactics got crude, but they got their message across.
The onus to this point has been to paint the Hawaiians as an ignorant EBT funded mob. That sort of cultural put down is why this entire fiasco has reached this point. That is not going to fly any more.
I want TMT built, but I want to see a PhD program in astronomy at UH, and I want to see a PhD program in Polynesian Navigation at UH, and I want to see aggressive in your face talent search and outreach in all things Hawaiian in the schools of this state and if that is the price to build TMT, then I say to the rest of the world put it on the table or stop pretending TMT matters to you.
Let's build this thing, but it is time to get serious. This issue is a lot bigger than it looks. The natives are realizing what their Manhattan real estate is worth more than is being offered. It is time for straight dealing.
We still haven't found another Earth. Time is running short folks.
---------------------------
You can't fix Samsara.
