State can ignore reality for only so long

Hawaii Health Systems Corp., which runs the 12 facilities in the state’s system of hospitals and clinics, has been warning that its operations are unsustainable for some time.

More than a year ago, the corporation was in talks with the nonprofit Banner Health on a privatization plan that ran aground in part because of opposition from its unionized labor force. Now it appears that job losses will be a reality in any case.

HHSC announced last week — ironically, in advance of Labor Day — that it will eliminate about 35 positions, mostly on Kauai. Those reductions in force, scheduled to take place as soon as mid-December, represent only the first round of cuts to offset a $48 million shortfall for fiscal 2015.

Maybe that privatization plan will have a better chance in the next legislative session. Lawmakers and Banner Health execs, are you listening?

Next we’ll find out Bozo isn’t a clown

So, here comes news from toymaker Sanrio Corp., as told to University of Hawaii professor Christine Yano, that Hello Kitty, the iconic character that dominates little girls’ paraphernalia around the world, is not a kitty at all.

"Hello Kitty is not a cat," they told her. "She is a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat."

Hmm, a little girl with whiskers and pointy ears? Er, OK.

We suppose that in the 21st century animated world, where cartoon Thor is a now a girl and Archie got killed, anything is possible. But we don’t have to like it.