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(a couple yrs before) 1893 Kalakaua's greed f-ed up Hawaii for ever... know your history... aloha
if you dont know ANY Hawaiian History, this is the single most important event (besides John Young meeting Kam I) ...
the reason why Hawaii became a part of the USA! Kalakaua's Greed!
full story here... http://opiumring.com/the-opium-bribe
PS. the Opium $1 tax stamps w/ Queen Emma sell for big $$ in the stamp trade...
and Jack London wrote a book about Chun Afong, he also stayed w/ the Shipmans when he visited Hilo area...
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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in early 1819, a woman would be killed for eating a banana in public...
The Kapu System was sadly.... stupid! period.
in early 1820 not a single Hawaiian could read or write, 40 yrs later they were the most literate country in the World...
aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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bananahead - the reason why Hawaii became a part of the USA! Kalakaua's Greed! full story here... http://opiumring.com/the-opium-bribe
It's been a long time since there's been a reason to say this, but thanks bananahead for sharing! An interesting corner of history I had not known of. Talk about really wanting to emulate the British Empire!
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A very interesting read. I had heard references to corruption within the Kingdom but was not aware of these details.
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I think another major date was 1848 - the great mahele. This had good intentions that were completely buggered up by poor implementation, corruption and greed. Truly, this process, intended to ensure that Hawaiians would gain title to the land, could have resolved many of the problems faced today, but instead, due to poor communication of the process, the concepts of land ownership, as well as greed by many in high places or in place to scoop up large swaths of land, resulted in Hawaiians having even less access to the lands their ancestors lived on for over a thousand years.
Me ka ha`aha`a,
Mike
Me ka ha`aha`a,
Mike
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bananahead-
That’s some historical perspective from the back of the vault. To be fair, the US didn’t ban opium until much later when two laws were passed in 1909 & 1913. That doesn’t diminish the details of Kalakaua’s debt, and his enormous appetite for luxury.
Kalakaua (while we’re on the topic) was also prodigious drinker. They didn’t call him the Merrie Monarch for nothing. I remember a tour at the Tedeschi Winery in Ulupalakua, Maui when our guide described a royal visit from Kalakaua. His ship anchored at the cattle dock on the Makena coast, and his entorage partied their way upcountry along the winding trail. When they arrived, the drinking continued until late into the night. I can’t remember the exact amount of alcohol they consumed, but it was hundreds of bottles. We were told this was not uncommon. Here’s a description of the Kalakaua visiting Robert Louis Stevenson (link), when he finished off 5 bottles of champagne, and two bottles of brandy over the course of the evening. By himself.
Probably not the best way to run a kingdom.
https://books.google.com/books?id=6DlRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA630&lpg=PA630&dq
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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This piece of Hawaii's history is only one of a multitude of documented events in Hawaii's past that makes the current fascination with, and desire to restore, a monarchy by our Hawaiian activist community completely incomprehensible to me. A Monarch has subjects; the subjects obey the Monarch (or else); the Monarch does what s/he damned well pleases regardless of the desires of his/her subjects. The Monarch has sovereignty over his/her subjects; the subjects have no sovereignty over themselves or the Monarch. How is this "restoring" sovereignty to Hawaiians? Kalakaua only gave up some of his sovereign "rights/privileges" at the point of a gun - at which time he became only a figurehead sovereign (... apologies to TomK... much like the present British sovereign: they can give out knighthoods, but otherwise have no real authority over their British "subjects" - they get to play make-believe Kings and Queens, and pi$$ away lots of money while play-acting in their regal bubble, but serve little other real purpose). But in the early days of the Hawaiian Monarchy, the power of the Monarch and his court, was pretty absolute (if my understanding of the history is correct) - if you were makainana and your shadow fell on royalty, you were done for; you had no rights, in the face of the Monarch's power, to home, property, possessions, family, or resources. If the Monarch wanted to buy fancy baubles to imitate British royalty, then you had to go harvest (or else)- practically to extinction - sandalwood at the expense of your time tending to your subsistence crops... If you or your family starved, that was, apparently, of little concern to the Monarch.
There is a historical basis for the expression: "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely". But I am sure that it will be different this time...
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I am curious, geochem, where in the proposed constitution, crafted by the Hawaiian people themselves, does it describe a monarchy?
For reference the document can be read here...
https://www.scribd.com/document/30074447...nstitution
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Better get all sovereignty activists to read it first. A huge percentage of them seem to think that the monarchy either never was formally dissolved or should be reinstated because the overthrow was illegal. It is one of the foundations of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and to dispute that is disingenuous.
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Yes, in punaweb mythology we learned that the Hawaiians voluntarily gave up their culture to Western Business interests and don't want it back. The same holds true to other indigenous peoples who donated their land and culture to corporate deities and voluntarily placed themselves on reservations.
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